How did we MISS this?
by Dalxein
Summary: Robin finds reports of a Ghost Invasion that should have been national news two weeks ago during his routine checks. In response, he sends two of his team to investigate the discrepancy. Little did he know he was sending them into a veritable war-zone...
1. The Titular Chapter

This is an experiment, me trying to keep up my writing skill until the spark to write the fics I have already comes back, along with me trying a new genre.

I'll let you check out the start of one of my other fics if you want to hear my normal intro rant.

I'm not making money on any of this - my one disclaimer for the entire fic. Deal with it.

ALSO- I like to have a bit of plot mystery in my fics. Some things just won't make sense until three or four chapters from now. I got one very memorable flame for one of my fics- it was about three pages long, detailing everything that didn't make sense with it up to that point, **and stating that he couldn't stand to read it past the second chapter, thus invalidating his entire argument_…_** because I _HAD_ answered most of those problems in later chapters. I don't like stupid flames. Feel free to try and ponder out the bits that don't make sense, or ask if you're curious because something doesn't fit.

Just please, for the love of C'Thun, _read the damn author's notes!_

* * *

"Raven, do you know anything about Ghosts?"

The question posed by Robin, who was sitting at his computer and still staring intently at it, caught Raven so off-guard she put down her book and raised an eyebrow. "That depends on what kind of ghost you mean."

This time the Boy Wonder looked away from the screen, his mask stretching oddly as his own eyebrow cocked. "There's more than one?"

Raven sighed, barely heard over the ruckus of Cyborg and Beast Boy up to their usual video game shenanigans. "Not really, but the various terms for spirits and such have been used so interchangeably that when you ask me about 'ghosts' I don't know if you mean spirits, or specters, poltergeists, ghosts, ghouls, or any of the more obscure forms of 'after-spirit'." She shook her head in exasperation and stood, continuing as she made her way to his side. "All of them are distinctly different, but easily confused. Why don't you just show me?"

He nodded and started typing, bringing up a number of images, and a couple of muted video clips, as well as notations on when and where each was taken. After doing so, he looked over to their resident supernatural expert to find her head tilted at an odd angle and her brow furled.

"…Yup. Ghosts. What did you want to know about them?"

"There was apparently a massive 'Ghost Invasion' recently. It was contained, but still… it doesn't sit well with me." The boy rubbed his chin in thought. Raven rolled her eyes at the clichéd gesture, but smirked at the classic Robin behavior. Then he continued, "You don't just invade and fall back without a reason. A whole city was trapped in another dimension. What's odd is, I'm not getting the kind of media I'd expect from it. It's like someone's trying to contain an incident that's already gone global."

Her eyebrow shot up again at that. "And that would mean…?"

"I have no clue." His hand dropped away from his chin in an almost defeated gesture while he turned back toward her. "…which is why I want you and Cyborg to take the T-Car and check things out. Things've been pretty quiet around here. The three of us should be able to handle it while you're gone."

Raven nodded and turned to get the cybernetic teen when Robin's hand fell on her shoulder, turning back to see him standing with an odd look in his eyes. "I don't like this, Raven. You go, investigate, and report back. If there's fighting, call immediately- I'll send Star to back you up."

Her eyes narrowed at his obvious coddling, before she took a calming breath and nodded. It had been almost a month since the incident with Trigon. It was still a touchy subject, but she felt fine about it after a long week meditating on it. They won, so why dwell on it? She was just going to have to trust Robin to get over it, too.

"Right… Cyborg!" She called, distracting the older teen in question long enough for an explosion to blare over the speakers, causing Beast Boy to burst into cheers of victory. "Prep the T-Car, we're heading out to check something."

He grumbled and groaned in response to his best friend's jeers before ignoring him with a dejected sigh. "Fine, where are we headed?"

Robin pointed up to signify 'north'. "Amity Park, Oregon. Hostile 'Ghost' sightings…"

"_Ghosts_?" The boy's organic eye widened. "This for real?"

"That's the report, anyway… all thirty thousand of them, all new as of two weeks ago, with some older ones- all from the same small city. Raven's going to check the supernatural side of it. I want you there to evaluate everything else." Their leader stated in his 'mission' voice. "The whole town was abducted, and then re-appeared. No cause for why. It doesn't feel right."

Cyborg nodded seriously, following Raven to the elevator they'd take down to the garage.

(*)

"So… uhh… what IS a ghost, anyway?" Cyborg tentatively asked half an hour into their trip.

Raven nodded from her seat beside his. "Unlike most forms of 'after-spirit' a Ghost has never been a living human. That is a misconception brought on by mass misinformation. What you think of when you think 'ghost' is most likely just a simple wisp or specter. A Ghost is an amalgamation of human emotion and leftover memory that eventually forms a will of its own, and in some cases, sentience."

Cyborg's human eye blinked a few times. "Oookaaay…"

Raven rolled her eyes. "What distinctly sets the sentient ghosts apart is not only clear forms, but each and every one has an obsession that defines them, based on the emotions that formed them in the first place, as well as the experiences of the ghost during its non-sentient period."

This had him worried. "An obsession? What kinds of obsessions are we talking here?"

She shrugged, causing him to blink. She didn't do that very often. "It can be anything. Absolutely anything. It could be money, power, a certain thing, a certain person, a state of being… You're rather obsessed with this car… what if that obsession drove everything you did? If every waking moment, it seemed to call to you; if every time you left it, you couldn't stop thinking about it. So, you'd shine your car, and keep it clean, maintain it… you would do that over and over. Because that's just what you were."

That caused him to sink into his seat somewhat. "That… sounds kinda' sad."

"It is." She stated simply, turning her head towards the window and staring out at the passing scenery.

(*)

"Sign says we're almost there." Cyborg said, tapping the console to bring up a comm-screen. "Oi, Robin! I know you've been goin' crazy with that supercomputer of yours. What've you found since we left? We're nearly there."

The Boy Wonder scoffed from the other side of the screen. "Amity Park is a small city… Very self-contained, imports what it needs, few more ghost sightings than most 'haunted' places. Then that thing two weeks ago…" He paused, Raven and Cyborg could practically hear him thinking. "Anyway, up until then, there'd been a certain ghost terrorizing the populace, even the other ghosts. Then the town disappears, comes back, and everyone loves him. Calling him… 'Inviso-Bill'."

The two winced at the cringe in his voice, along with the horrible pun of the name itself.

"And that's it?" Cyborg asked. Raven was still pretending to sight-see.

"He's the only one with anything resembling a profile. I've found a few clear images and scattered info on others, but nothing cohesive." A sigh. "There's not enough information. And at the same time, what there is- it's too detailed. There was even another invasion before this one. How did we not _hear _about that?"

Cyborg's features hardened. "A cover-up?"

"Looks like it. Be careful you two. I'm sending over what I found on Inviso-Bill."

"We will." Raven said with something Cyborg swore was a bit of a grumble.

With a smirk, he linked up with the T-Car's computer. "…Got it. We'll check in here in a few hours. Cyborg out."

(*)

"The _mall_?" Raven asked, the word almost dripping with condescension.

"Hey…" Her companion intoned as he shut his door. "If we stopped by the police station first, they'd probably send out a bulletin, and word would get out we were here, and… well…"

"Teenagers are less likely to cooperate when told to. Okay." Raven gave a small sigh. "We'll stop by there after."

Cyborg nodded, and they headed in to mingle.

(*)

They weren't having much luck mingling.

It was like people had never even _heard_ of the Teen Titans here!

After the incident with Trigon, he couldn't see how that was possible. That made the news everywhere. If they weren't nationally known before that, they were now.

But not here.

Everyone was staring at him. The weirdest part? Most of them seemed more awed than anything else. And the questions they kept asking…

"What is all that?" "Where are you from?" "Are you a ghost hunter?" "You must be here after the ghosts!" "Are you a friend of the Fenton's?"

"This isn't working…" He groaned after he'd gotten the crowd to disperse.

"It was your idea." Raven stated bluntly as she walked up from across a catwalk. "And having you here is making me less noticeable."

He smirked. "At least no one's asked _me _what circus I was from…"

She was about to lay into him when an African-American boy with a backpack and red… hat… seemed to materialize between them.

(*)

It was a relatively normal day for Danny Fenton.

Sam, Tucker and he had just gotten out of school and headed to the mall along with a swarm of other students, though Sam's nature wouldn't let them walk anywhere near the massive crowd if she could help it. Their first stop was, naturally, the electronics store to sate Tucker's incessant urgings. After that, it was straight to the food court.

"We should hit the movies after this." Sam said after draining her drink.

"Horror movie marathon?" Tucker asked cheerfully.

"Is there one running today?" Danny asked after swallowing what was left of his food.

"I dunno. Maybe you're right. We've probably seen everything already, anyway." She muttered.

Danny blinked. "Uhh, Sam? You wouldn't happen to have a particularly pale, purple-haired cousin, would you?"

"Nnooo?" She drawled, confused. He pointed a finger just above the rim of the table, and her eyes followed…

…Straight to a girl with ash-gray skin, mid-length purple hair, an odd gem in the middle of her forehead... wearing a blue cloak. She was talking to a trio of girls who seemed to eye her warily as they spoke. The girl nodded, and turned away- heading over the catwalk.

"I've never seen anyone like _her _before…" Sam said, an odd twinge of awe in her tone. "Have you, Tu… where'd he go?"

Danny glanced around for his friend, finally seeing him sprinting toward where the girl was headed… an odd older boy that seemed to be… glowing blue and mechanical? "I think we'd best go after him…"

(*)

"Can I touch your tech?" The boy asked reverently as he looked up at Cyborg with tears in his eyes.

"Wha-no!" Was the response as Cy held up his hands defensively and backed away from the other boy.

There was an odd silence for a moment. "Down boy!" a new boy called.

"Sorry about our technophile friend…" said a pale girl with black hair and clothing. "He gets creepy when he sees shiny new things."

"Not a problem." Cyborg said, a tinge of fear in his voice. "Just keep him from trying to dismantle me."

"Easier said than done, but…" She complied, yanking the boy back a few feet by his backpack.

"Sorry about all this. I'm Danny, and this is Sam and Tucker." The last of their group said, holding out his hand to Raven, since Cyborg was on the other side of him from his friends. "You guys are new around here, right?"

She swept her cloak aside to shake his hand tentatively as she answered. "No, we're here regarding the Ghost Invasion two weeks ago. Would you happen to know anything?"

Tucker gave her his biggest smile. "I'll tell you over dinner if you'll go out with me." He asked in his usual, overeager way.

Her lower-left eyelid twitched, even as Cyborg took a step backward instinctually. She craned her neck forward, slowly narrowing her eyes and deepening her natural scowl as a single low syllable left her lips. "No."

"O-o-okay…" Tucker muttered from his place hiding behind Cyborg.

Danny shook away the blush he still had on his cheeks from when he'd gotten a good look at what she was wearing while her attention shifted to Tuck. It was nothing but a tight-fitting black leotard and a dark gray chain belt. As his eyes continued down, he got a full view of her shapely, well-toned legs and high-rimmed blue boots. He didn't notice the boots. "Why do you want to know?"

"We're super-heroes-" She said, ignoring Tucker's query to Cyborg about not being from the circus, which earned him a glare from the taller African-American boy. "-from Jump City, California. Our team leader saw the news about it, and thought he should send us up to investigate things. I'm the team's expert on magic and the supernatural."

Sam's look of awe instantly tripled. "You're a superhero? And you know magic?"

She nodded. "I'm Raven, and this is Cyborg. We're part of the Teen Titans. Could you please tell us what you know about the event, or the ghosts in the area in general?"

Danny started to feel a bit twitchy, and opened his mouth to answer, but Tucker cut him off. "I've never heard of your team before…" He said, pulling out his PDA. "Ahh. Teen Titans… Jump City… Robin, Beast Boy, and Starfire… You guys have your own _tower_?"

Now that both of his friends were gaping in awe at their favorite Titan, Danny couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Two weeks ago was when the Ghost King, Pariah Dark invaded. There haven't been any attacks since then. He… kinda' shouted his name." He added lamely.

"Just one guy?" Cyborg asked, astonished.

"Uhh, no. He was a _king_. He had an _army._" Danny explained.

Cyborg nodded, before looking between Sam and Tucker and asking "So, what about this 'Inviso-Bill' we've heard about?"

Danny couldn't help the disparaged sigh that escaped him. Raven noticed the intense feelings of anguish and frustration flowing through the boy. Curious, she pushed her mind out a little closer, to touch his…

_Why does -everyone- call me that?_

Her eyes widened. She was now _very_ interested in what this boy had to say. She took stock of him again- he seemed lanky, with barely noticeable traces of fine lean muscle down his arms. His shirt was a plain white, with a red oval in the center, and red trim with shoes of a similar style, and plain blue jeans. He was almost as pale as the girl, with icy blue eyes and spiky black hair that… actually reminded her a little of Robin's, if The Boy Wonder would grow it out and comb it forward instead of back. And he seemed… tense. Like he was just waiting for something to happen…

If she hadn't been closely scrutinizing him, she would've missed the wisp of blue that he expelled with his breath. He seemed shocked by it, but then she felt that shock harden into determination as he began to glance around… had he noticed something? Then she saw the other two were also glancing about, but also occasionally sending looks at Danny. What did it all mean?

"A mechanical human… a most interesting specimen. I have decided I shall mount your head upon my wall, and incorporate any advancements in your technology into my own."

All five of them gawked at a fully mechanical-looking man, glowing slightly green, the same shade as the flaming mohawk that adorned his metal head. He was floating behind Danny with the aid of two wings ending in what appeared to be jet engines, glaring down at them with lifeless glowing green eyes.

"AAAH! A GHOST!" Both Tucker and Sam pointed and yelled at once, prompting Danny to do the same before all three turned and ran past Raven and Cyborg.

What confused the dark titan about their exclamation was the hardened, determined look on Danny's face as he passed her.

"That's… kinda' creepy." Cyborg said, breaking her from her reverie with the sound of his arm changing into his signature sonic cannon.

She heard the weapon fire even as she intoned "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Two tables and the chairs that sat around them turned an inky, oddly glowing black and floated upward before hurtling at the ghost, who hadn't moved from his position. It was like Cyborg had just fired _through_ it…

The tables struck it from behind, knocking it out of the air. "RAE!" Cyborg called, "Hold him there!"

She hadn't just knocked him out of the air, but closer to them. Cyborg had his cannon pointed right at the Ghost's chest when its damaged wings, and then its arms and legs turned black, and then she felt it… with the same piece of herself she used to wrap her powers around and _into _the ghost's armor, she could sense his emotions, his craving, his _obsession_…

He needed to Pursue. To stalk, chase, track, hound… _to hunt and persevere_.

She felt nothing as the pulse of sonic energy tore into his chestplate.

It was just armor, after all.

_Survival of the fittest._

When she felt the thought within her mind, she glanced up suddenly to his uncovered shoulders, which both extended a small cannon, each firing on one of the titans, blowing them back and shattering the concentration that held the ghost tangible and confined.

As she flew backward in the air into a rail, she watched a glowing green beam strike the side of the hunter's head.

"Hey Skulker!" A newcomer, also floating and shimmering with a soft green light, yelled. Then he chuckled. "Wow, what'd you do, run yourself straight into a battering ram?"

As she steadied herself, she watched him. He too was a ghost, if the floating and his glowing radioactive-green eyes were any indication. He too could be an enemy. He wore what seemed to be a one-piece suit… white gloves, belt and boots, over black that hugged his lithe frame. At the center of his chest was an emblem. A 'D' with a gap, extending the core of the letter down into a 'P' shape. It reminded her of the logos some heroes insisted on marking themselves with… and some villains.

"Infuriating Ghost Child!" 'Skulker' yelled, firing what looked like a series of nets at him, which he flowed around, making it look effortless just to infuriate his opponent.

She intoned her mantra again, ripping the railing in front of her out of its place and sending it to wrap around the ghost. He tried to phase through it when he noticed it coming, but the now-black railing wrapped around him.

"What… is this!" The ghost yelled as he strained against the bars, causing Raven to grunt with effort. It wasn't helping that the other ghost and Cyborg decided to start pummeling their enemy _and _the bars that held him. They inevitably snapped.

Just in time for a beam of spiraling blue light to strike him, drawing him into… a thermos?

"YEAH!" Tucker yelled as Sam capped the soup can.

"HEY!" Cyborg yelled up at the still-floating ghost. "Thanks for the help. So you're this… Inviso-Bill we've heard about?"

Raven felt a wave of rage, frustration and anxiety flow out of the ghost as he floated down, almost to Cyborg's face. "My _name_ is _Danny Phantom_!" He roared.

And then it clicked.

This was the same sort of reaction, though much stronger, that Danny had to the name. He was the only one of the trio missing, and that thought from earlier…

"Sorry, it was the only name we could find online." She said, trying to ease the situation.

He sighed. "Don't worry about it. At least _someone _finally listens when I say that the first time." And then he floated down through the floor.

Cyborg looked at the two teens trying to sneak away unseen. "So, what's this make you two?"

Raven wasn't sure if he'd figured it out or not when they answered. "We're… uhh… Junior Ghost Hunters! Yeah." Sam replied as quickly as she could think it up.

Raven nodded to her. "Well, thank you. We didn't have a way to… capture it like that."

"It's no trouble, but if you'd like to go out on a da-KAAAAAGH!" Tucker started, only to have Sam stamp her combat boots down on his toes.

"Where'd your friend go?" Cyborg asked.

"SAM! TUCK!" Danny yelled out as he ran up, breathing somewhat heavily.

Raven couldn't help it. She gave a small smirk at the boy.

"Well, since we've started winding up a part of the damages in town… we'd best stop by the police station to explain who we are…" Cyborg said, rubbing the back of his neck idly.

Raven nodded. "We'll ask more questions later, if that's okay?"

"Oh sure!"

"Anytime…"

Danny smiled at her. "Sure thing."

She suddenly found he had the most interesting blue eyes…

As Cyborg was walking away, she closed her eyes and smiled. As such, she missed his eyes widening when she spoke.

"It was nice meeting you, Danny Phantom."

_Double crud…_ he though, as she flew after her teammate.

* * *

Well, if you like my little experiment, good. If you don't, tell me why, but only if you can convince me you've got a higher IQ than a brick while doing so. If you just want to yell at me for not updating my other fics… irrelevant. I'll get back to them when I'm sure I won't ruin the plots by forcing myself to write Narutoverse when I don't want to.

One of my greatest failings as a fanfiction writer is trying so hard to fit things to canon that when the canon doesn't work, I can't write. It's what happened to my Naruto fics, and I don't want it to happen here. This experiment is partly to see how much I can diverge from canon.

So, if the Canon doesn't work, fuck it. I'm dropping the bits of canon that don't work.

'Amity Park, Oregon' – this was an interesting mental debate, which was won out by "It'll make the plot simpler than the other common choice, Illinois" and natural bias from being born in that state. **EDIT**- After being asked by my beta about it (It's why he's my beta. He fixes my fuck-ups, and gets to see the stuff early) specifically, that he thought it took them one day to get to Wisconsin from Amity Park in one of the episodes, I checked. Four days. It actually supports the location.

Don't ask about pairings. Yes, they will happen. No I will not tell you when or what they are, save the obvious Danny/Raven.

Also, I don't really like Sam and Tucker in fics. I'm going to try and salvage the characters, though.

This wound up about 300 words shy of where I usually like to have a chapter at (minimum) before I'll post it, but… It felt complete. And I want to start on the next one.

**I already know what the ending to the final chapter will be**. (Barring an epilogue) This is the first time I've ever posted the first chapter fully knowing how the fic will end. It may be twenty or forty chapters from now, so I don't know the _when, _but I do know the _how._

**EDIT-** I am frustrated the hell out that this site no longer supports my preferred mid-story scene change (three hyphens) And now I'm fixing it and trying to get it to work again.


	2. Before the Storm

Second chapter! …posted on my brother's birthday. :O

I'm actually surprised at how positive the reviews for the first chapter were, and that I got so many considering it's a crossover, and the first chapter.

Next update is planned for Yule holidays and year's end.

* * *

"Did she just…" Tucker started, his oddly turquoise eyes wide behind his thick-rimmed glasses.

"…call you _Phantom_?" Sam finished, her voice filled with fear for her friend.

Danny let out a cry of frustration before motioning for the others to follow before the authorities arrived.

(*)

"_Yes_, we can have the damages paid for, _if_ you contact the district in Jump City!" Cyborg was starting to get frustrated now. No _wonder_ Robin seemed to have lost one of his Bo-Staves up his own ass if _this_ was what he had to deal with all the time!

"I've still never heard of a city okaying a vigilante team, and even _funding _them…" The officer groused.

"Hey Dick!" Another officer with his hand over a telephone receiver called. "They're telling the truth, they've got their own damage fund! I'm on the line with Jump's Department of Human Resources now."

_Hah. DICK._ Cyborg couldn't help but chuckle in his head. It was mean, but then again, the guy _was_ being a dick.

"I still don't see why a young lady would run around in an outfit like that, though…" The only female officer they've seen put her two cents forward.

"Better range of movement." Raven muttered loud enough to be heard.

The woman chuckled. "I suppose. But anyway, if you're looking for ghost experts, I'd suggest Fenton Works. We're supposed to forward people to the Guys in White, but they're not very people-friendly." Raven had no idea who she was talking about, but it was nice to see her own questions asked while Cyborg was busy were heard. "Here's the address. The Fentons are a bit eccentric, but they're good people if you get used to it."

"Do you get used to it?" Cyborg asked impulsively.

"Nope, never." She chuckled again.

(*)

_Subtle…_ Cyborg mused to himself as they parked in the driveway. The building looked fairly normal… on the first floor. A massive sign denoting the building as 'Fenton Works' was affixed to the side of the second floor, and it seemed there was a third and fourth floor… built in model after a UFO disc shape.

Raven just smirked at the absurdity of it.

She stood behind Cyborg as he rang the doorbell, keeping her hood down to seem friendlier. The both of them could just make out a booming male voice declaring that he'd get the door when it opened, revealing a mountain of a man in an orange hazmat suit.

"HI! I'm Jack Fenton, what can I do for ya?"

They weren't sure whether it was a good thing or bad that he barely seemed to react to them any differently than they suspected he would anyone else. "I'm Cyborg, and this is Raven. We're with the Teen Titans, investigating the Ghost incident two weeks ago, and ghosts in general. Do you mind if we talked to you for a bit?"

"Well sure!" He cheered with a megawatt grin. "Hey Mads! I've got people here who want to talk about GHOSTS!"

Now they knew what that policewoman was talking about. Jack was easily one of the most cheerfully eccentric men they knew of, and when they were led into a dining room area, they found a woman in a full-body blue hazmat suit, complete with large orange goggles over her eyes. There was another young woman sitting at the table, who seemed… suspiciously normal. Long red hair held back by a blue hairband, and a tasteful black blouse. It was difficult to tell because she was sitting, but Raven caught a bit of light blue pant-leg under the table the same shade as the hairband.

"Well hello! You're younger than I thought you'd be when Jack said we had a business visit. I'm Maddie Fenton, and this is our daughter Jazz. Would you like something to drink? Snacks?" She would've come off as a rather normal housewife if not for the suit and ghost-hunting gear strapped to her utility belt. Her daughter smiled kindly at them.

"Uhh… no, thank you, Mrs. Fenton." Cyborg said. "We're really just here to talk for a bit. You see, we're superheroes, and the thing two weeks ago has us worried something might happen again, so we want to be ready just in case."

"OOH!" Jazz piped up, standing from her seat. "I was just starting a thesis on the Psychology of a Teenaged Superhero! Would you two mind sitting for interviews before you leave?"

The room went silent at that. The Titans weren't sure what to make of it, luckily, Jack Fenton has a way of breaking such silences. "Now, Jazzy-Pants, these two are here to hear me talk about GHOSTS! We can see about other things later! Now where is that brother of yours, he should be here for this! DANNY!" He called suddenly.

The Titans froze. It _couldn't_ be…

Sure enough, Danny and his friends, Sam and Tucker, made their way into the room, stopping to stare as they caught sight of the visitors.

Raven's eyes locked onto fearful icy-blue orbs. Danny seemed surprised, and even _afraid_ of them… She decided to see if she could find out why-

_-on't call me Phantom, please don't call me Phantom, please don't call me Phantom… _Was the mantra she heard him playing through in his head. Her own eyes widened slightly as she heard the introductions Maddie gave of her son and his 'little friends'. His name was Danny Fenton. He must be trying to keep Phantom a secret… her eyes softened.

_Don't worry, I won't._

Danny's eyes grew wider, which she hadn't thought they could. '_You can talk in my head?' _He asked.

She nodded, which looked like she was acknowledging something Cyborg had just said. '_I'm not skilled enough in telepathy to do so without eye contact, but I can. I just don't do so often.'_ She explained. '_Is there somewhere we could talk? This is becoming difficult.'_

It was then that he noticed she was wincing. 'Not skilled in telepathy' was probably a massive understatement, he assumed. Shocking those present, he reached out a hand into the folds of her cloak to grasp hers. "I'm going to show Raven the Fenton Ghost Portal and some of our equipment, okay?" he said before pulling her along and down a stairwell.

(*)

Tucker was on his new favorite hero's arm instantly. "CYBORG!" He called.

"ACK! Get him off!" The mechanized teen cried, waving the limb about.

"Now now, boys…" Maddie interjected, softly pushing them apart. "This is Tucker Foley, one of our son Danny's little friends, and the other is Sam Manson." She seemed quite oblivious to the staring contest going on between her son and the sorceress.

"It's… uhh, nice to meet you guys." Sam said with a nervous smile, hoping they'd take the hint and not mention what happened earlier. "So, what brings you to Amity Park?"

Cyborg's organic eyebrow twitched upward, but he made no other motions that he thought the statement curious. Sometimes he couldn't help it- he _loved_ his poker face. "Like I said earlier-" not iterating which 'earlier' he meant, at the mall or here at Fenton Works. "-I'm Cyborg and this is Raven. We're part of a superhero team called the Teen Titans. Our leader, Robin, sent us down here to investigate the ghost incidents. Now, this is going to sound odd, but, all the reports say there was a ghost invasion, but there's very little data supporting it- that's why we're here: Figuring out what happened, why they retreated, and if it'll happen again."

Raven nodded.

"I'll tell you what happened!" Jack exploded gleefully. "We kicked ghost butt all the way back to the Ghost Zone!"

Then Maddie started. "It's true, we helped push the ghosts back into the Ghost Zone, but-"

Suddenly, Danny's hand shot out and into the folds of Raven's cloak to grasp hers. "I'm going to show Raven the Fenton Ghost Portal and some of our equipment, okay?" he asked before pulling her along, actually floating behind him to avoid running awkwardly, and down the stairs to the basement lab.

The first to break the shocked silence was Maddie. "Aww! Jack, I think our little boy has a crush!"

Cyborg could only pray this wasn't the case as his hand ran over his face. _She'd rip him a new one…_

(*)

When they'd made it down to the lab, Danny turned back to Raven. "Okay, this is about as private as my place gets…"

"I wanted to apologize for earlier." She quickly started. "We Titans don't bother with secret identities."

"So you figured I wouldn't either." She nodded in confirmation. "Well, you didn't cost me my secret, so as long as you promise to keep it yourself, I don't think there's much else I can do about it."

She smirked at his aggravated nonchalance, and carefully extracted her hand from his. This caused him to blush furiously- he'd obviously forgotten they were still holding hands… that, or he was pretending he had. Her smirk twitched wider at his mumbled apology.

"It's fine." She said, reining herself back to a neutral tone. "I promise to keep your secret, but I can't promise the other Titans won't figure it out for themselves."

He let out a breath, much more calm now. "That's all I can ask."

A comfortable silence fell as Danny leaned back against the Ghost Portal's control console and Raven began to glance about the room. "So, is that what I think it is?" She asked, her raised eyebrow evident in her voice as she gestured toward the wall with the portal, currently closed with doors marked with alternating diagonal yellow and black lines.

He chuckled. "The Fenton Ghost Portal. Doorway to The Ghost Zone." As she took a few steps closer to it, he thought about what to say next. With a calming breath and his devil-may-care attitude reinstating itself, he continued. "That's actually how I got my powers. Mom and Dad built it, but it didn't work, so after they left I took a look in it. Don't know what I was hoping to do, I'm no engineer, but it turned out the damn thing wasn't even on." He said with a chuckle as she ran her hand along the arch. "I hit the 'on' button on accident, and BAM… most painful minute of my life, and ghost powers."

"That's quite the story…" She said, her hand still resting on the portal, leaving her cloak open as she gave him a small, sad smile.

He decided right then that Raven was very, _very_, pretty. Yes, she was hot, but there was something about her that didn't let you think of it that way. She seemed… nice. Aside from that time she nearly had Tucker wetting himself, at least… Eventually, his eyes landed on hers. While Sam's eyes were pale lavender, Raven's eyes were a deep violet, similar to her hair.

While raven was smiling, she couldn't help but stare at him for a moment. Sure, he was lanky, his hair was unruly, and his clothes were bland, but… there was something about him. Her eyes met his, and she decided that's what it was… those crystalline, ice-blue eyes of his. She could see his eyes reflect every little change in his emotions as his thoughts wandered on. He was easy to read… easy to trust. She decided then that she was curious about him. That was the only thing that could explain what she felt when she looked into his eyes. And then she realized she was staring, blushed, and turned her head away.

He watched as she suddenly found the corner to her left quite interesting for some reason. Shaking his head, he blushed too. "Oh, sorry, I was staring, huh?"

She couldn't help but smile. He was just so _simple_… so straightforward. She shook her head and met his eyes again. "Don't worry about it."

(*)

"Wow…" Cyborg barked. "That's very… interesting." After Jack's entire tirade about ghosts, he hadn't been able to pick out a single useful detail. Maybe he would later when he and Raven, and eventually Robin, watched the recording from his cybernetic eye that he'd started before he knocked on the door. Pulling things from his general memory backups was fine, but it still felt creepy to dig around in his memories.

"Oh, maybe I can help." Maddie murmured. She loved her husband dearly, but even she had to admit the man was terrible with general data. "Saying that ghosts are dead people isn't _incorrect_, but it's more accurate to say that, historically, ghosts are leftover bits of sentience that never passed on, or became another kind of spirit. These memories and emotions are drawn to ectoplasm, ergo the Ghost Zone, and eventually coalesce into a new being. It wasn't until a few hundred years ago that other spirits began drifting into the Ghost Zone and becoming charged with ectoplasm themselves, turning them into ghosts as we know them."

Now _this_ was new. The other parts he could've guessed from Raven's summary of them, but she'd seemed fairly adamant that 'ghosts' were never truly alive. He shook his head and cleared his throat to shake off the fear inherent with _Raven not knowing something_. "That's… a lot of that Raven already knew, but the other stuff- the stuff about the other spirits turning into ghosts- she didn't know that part. What can you tell me about it?"

The woman looked positively gleeful at having superior knowledge on the subject compared to the 'resident expert' as he'd referred to his cloaked compatriot. Jack was smiling brighter than a lighthouse at his wife as she continued. "Well, the more powerful ghosts are either very very old, as is the case with Pariah Dark, the ghost king, and the Fright Knight, spirit of fear… probably people with enough will at their time of death to retain most of themselves, refuse to become spirits, and wind up ghosts. OR, they're spirits charged with the ectoplasm of the Ghost Zone, getting a 'jump start' as it were, because they already have a conscious mind with which to actively develop their powers and abilities. There's been a big influx of ghosts lately, and the majority of them we've seen since moving to Amity are the latter type- ghosts that weren't originally ghosts. So we suspect at any rate, given the power and general modernization of them."

Jazz's jaw was on the floor. She'd known her mother was intelligent; her own brains had to come from _somewhere_, but she'd never heard her mother lay down straight facts like that… like… like this ghost business could have _actual science and research behind it!_ "Wow…" She let out under her breath.

Cyborg simply nodded, not paying attention to the three awed teens in the room. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense." After a moment's thought, he sighed, waving his hand towards where Raven left at. "I'm really not the one with the specific questions on ghosts, but why the surges in activity?" When met with curious glances, he elaborated. "You said the spirits only started turning ghost in the last few hundred years, and the ghosts have been more active lately… pretty sure you meant something more 'this lifetime' with that…" He smiled at the little joke.

Maddie chuckled. "Oh, yes. There's been more activity lately, but we don't really know why that is-"

"Might have something to do with people opening portals to their world…" Sam muttered loudly, much to the amusement of the other local teens.

"-_anyway_," The Fenton matriarch started again, silencing them. "We only have suspicions regarding the progenitor to the spectral ecto-morphasis phenomenon. The two theories that are most prominent are that the walls between this world and the ghost zone are simply breaking down, enabling spirits to wander into the zone more freely, which could be problematic later on given further decay of the dimensional boundaries. Most of the paranormal community shies away from this theory because they simply don't want to deal with the implications if it were true, we're of the opinion that it's the much more likely scenario."

Cyborg couldn't help the bead of sweat running from his brow down off his chin. This sounded _way_ out of his league. _Dimensional boundaries_? Oh, he'd definitely be leaving this to Raven to figure out. "And the other?"

She smiled in a kind, motherly way. "That some spectral force is driving them out of their own dimensions, and into the Ghost Zone. Odd, isn't it, that people prefer a ghastly monster the likes of which could torment entire realities to the thought of one teensy dimensional bubble popping…" She shook her head at how silly it seemed to her.

Cyborg was sure now. Both Fenton parents were _completely _off their rockers. Then again, he'd seen the way the other Titans look at him when he'd pull his own engineering genius out of his hat with more than a 'Here's my new gadget, and how to turn it on.' Maybe it was just a genius thing, to be misunderstood by those that don't share your same field of study. At least engineering, cybernetics and particle physics weren't _totally weird._

So, he nodded along, not sure what else he could do. "Maybe we should get Rae, and she can go over this with you more in-depth. I'm the tech guy anyway- I'd be the one to show the gadgets and gear to instead of Raven."

"YES!" Jack yelled, leaping to his feet. "I can show you the new invention I'm working on while I babble on about GHOSTS!" He grabbed Cyborg's arm and hoisted the cybernetic teen after him, despite the additional weight. "I call it the Boo_oo_oo-merang!"

Tucker gathered up his things and trotted after them faithfully.

Sam sighed and shook her head, but couldn't help her smile. "Come on, you two. Let's go find Danny."

(*)

"So, how long have you been keeping this a secret?" Raven asked, trying her hand at breaking up awkward silences.

"Oh, almost a year now…" Danny's tense stance relaxed a bit. "It was early march when the accident happened, so… Three months and a birthday away from a year." Raven still couldn't stop the small flinch at the mention of birthdays. "Heck, that's what we were doing when my parents called me down. _Completely_ freaking out on what to do with you knowing my secret…"

She gave him a smirk. "You were that worried?"

He sighed. "Old habit, I suppose. After the Pariah Dark thing, everyone seems to like me now- before that, though… same old 'ghosts are evil' mentality. The whole town hated me just because of what I was, even though I was the good guy! Even my parents thought Phantom was evil…" His gaze drifted to the floor with another, bigger, sigh. "It was hard sometimes…"

Raven was out of her element now. She'd never been good at consoling or comforting others, but that's what he seemed to need at the moment… she put her hand on his shoulder and smiled as brightly as she could when he gave her a surprised look. "It'll be okay…" She wanted to say more, but for the life of her, couldn't think of what to say.

It didn't matter, though. He met her smile with his own and patted her own shoulder. "Yeah, I think it will. Thanks."

They stood there in amicable silence for a while before he heard Sam call his name. "There you are!"

"Yeah… So odd that I'd be _right _where I said I'd be, huh?" He replied with a shrug and a smirk.

"Hey, I _know_ you, mister." Was the goth's retort, giving him a light tap on the shoulder when she was close enough.

Danny flinched and rubbed his shoulder after Sam punched him. Those really _hurt_. "…Just talking to Raven. She's fine about the whole… _other_ thing." He said, changing his tone when he saw his mother and sister in the room as well.

"Ahh…" Sam nodded.

"What other thing?" Jazz pried.

Danny was instantly defensive. "None of your business!" He would've said more had his mother not been in the room to get after him for calling his sister bossy and nosy.

"OOOOH! I _told_ you so!" He really didn't like the tone his mother used for some reason. Or that she was girlishly holding her hands clasped in front of her chest… he'd seen the gossipy girls at school do that. It just _wasn't right_ for his mom to do so, too.

Sam rolled her eyes and butted in. "_Any_way," her eyes were instantly glistening as she held a similar pose to Mrs. Fenton, staring up at Raven. Danny blinked at that. "I was wondering if you could teach me witchcraft? Maybe some spells or incantations?"

Raven was only grossly offended for a moment, she was sure of it. It never made it past her eyes at any rate. The younger girl hadn't noticed at all. Maybe she just wasn't that perceptive? "You might want to find a witch for that." She deadpanned. At Sam's suddenly curiously horror-stuck look, she added "I'm a sorceress, not a witch."

Sam's features faded into realization and she nodded. "Ohh, well still, you could teach me something, right?"

Maddie and Jazz just smiled from the sidelines, watching the two darker girls talk.

Raven sighed. "Witches gain power quickly, and reach their peak relatively early. A sorceress will spend her whole life advancing a little at a time. I'm abnormally proficient for my age." The other girl started to look sad. Her lower lip started trembling and her eyes began to moisten. The Titan sighed. "I wouldn't be able to teach you much, it's doubtful we'd get into real magic, but I could show you some basics."

"Yes!" Sam cheered, grabbing Raven's arm. "You're staying at my place tonight!"

She did her best to just give a small smile, but she looked to Danny, and saw him smiling too. He must've seen the cringe on her face as his friend started dragging her along.

"Don't worry about it, we can talk ghosts tomorrow." Maddie said, at which Raven nodded as she passed.

"Thanks missus Fenton!" Sam called, leading the sorceress by the arm up the stairs and out of the house. "Uhh, do you need to tell your teammate?"

"I'm sure they'll tell him, or he'll call when he can't find me." Raven stated, hiding how irritated she was at being dragged off anyway.

"Ahh, leaving it as a _happy_ surprise then?" The other girl asked with a feral smirk.

Raven rolled her eyes as she followed in silence. Eventually they came upon a rather large mansion. Raven's only reaction was to raise an eyebrow, which seemed to impress Sam. After waiving off the butler, Sam half-ascended the stairs and called "MOM! DAD! I'm home and I have a friend staying over for the night!"

"It's not one of those horrible boys, is it?" Her mother's voice called back.

Sam scowled. "NO Mom, it's a new girl in town."

The silence actually scared her more than a response would've. Eventually her mother, and shortly after, her father, appeared- each from a different wing of the house. Both had wide eyes when they took in the visitor, even though she had her hood down. "And… how long will she be staying…?" Her father asked tentatively.

The two girls shared a look, and Sam had the unnerving feeling that Raven was shrugging without moving her shoulders. "Well, she's in town on… business?" The Titan nodded at the other girl's words. "Ah, yeah. So it could be a few days, if that's okay."

The parent's eyes narrowed, and Raven had a feeling the butler's behind them were, too. She decided she really didn't like this place. The furnishings were gaudy and bright, the house and grounds screamed of wealth, and the way these people were dressed and acted… they were _snobs._

"It shouldn't be a problem as long as you both obey the house rules…" The man grumbled.

Sam nodded, stating her thanks before leading her guest off and away. After they'd turned a corner, though, the goth stopped with a hand on Raven's arm to hold her back as well. She gestured back the way they came silently.

Raven raised an eyebrow, but didn't complain as they knelt down to listen.

"I swear, she's getting odder by the day…" They heard the man sigh. "I've never liked her friends, but I put up with them because, well… they're _normal_, or as much as boys can be these days… in _this_ town."

"I'm worried about her, Jeremy." Her mother said. "She _is _becoming more strange and distant, and now she's bringing home strange girls… in _capes_." The tone of her voice was starting to become frantic. "I'd always been fine with her hanging out with those boys because I thought she'd wind up dating one of them, even if it was the son of those horrid _Fentons_." She seemed to spit the last word venomously. "But now our little _tomboy_ daughter brings home some girl… did you _see_ her? Her skin was _gray, _Jeremy! Is that some tattooing or chemical treatment, or… I just don't know." Her voice became low, then, far too much so for them to continue to hear.

"Our daughter is _not _some _deviant_, Pamela!" The man replied, sounding startled. "If it worries you that much, I'll ask her friend to leave tomorrow. I had no _idea _that was why you'd convinced me to let her stay with them." He sighed, just loud and long enough for them to catch, and then his tone lowered. "We need to be a bit more trusting with her, maybe she'll open up to us then. She said it herself, this girl isn't going to be staying in town. If anything comes of this, we'll deal with it when it happens."

By now, Sam was leaning back against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest and laying her chin on them. "Wonderful parents, aren't they?" She muttered. "C'mon, let's go…"

With a nod, Raven helped the other girl to her feet and followed her down the hall to what could easily pass for a 'Cave of Solitude' _or_ a bedroom. "So what about _your_ folks?"

The Titan shut her eyes tightly and refused to let out the dejected sigh that came with thinking of her mother. She'd gotten better about thinking of her father, even talking about him… but not with strangers. She really didn't want to go into this topic, but she didn't want to lie… just say as little as possible. Letting out the breath she'd been holding slowly, she decided on a course of action.

"My mother was raped." There. Concise, truthful, and best of all- there isn't a polite way to continue a conversation after a statement like that.

Just as intended, Sam's eyes were wide as saucers and her mouth was hanging open slightly, her jaw working fruitlessly to try and piece thoughts into words. "U-oh… I'm sorry."

Raven felt bad about putting the younger girl in this situation; worse for the emotions she could feel in the girl and see playing over her face, but not nearly as bad as she would if she'd been forced into talking in detail about her parents and how she came to be. Still, "Don't feel sorry for me." She nearly winced. Still needed to work on her bedside manner… Still, she got her wishes across. "Sit." She commanded, pointing at the bed.

Sam did as she was told, sitting on the edge of the bed near her pillows. "Why?" She asked, eager to leave the prior topic.

"You wanted to learn, didn't you?" The girl's eyes lit up at this, and Raven floated to sit cross-legged near the foot of the large bed. "Everything comes back to the mind. So, I'm going to teach you how to meditate."

"I know how to meditate…" The goth's brow furled as she stated this.

She was treated to the rare sight of Raven's small smile. "Are you sure?"

(*)

Later that night, Danny heard a knock at his door.

"Come in." He called. He wasn't expecting his mother to come by this late, but she walked in the door, taking a seat at Danny's desk while he set the comic he was reading at his side along with his headphones, and sat up on his bed. "So, is Cyborg all hooked up for the night?"

Neither of them knew what happened to get Tucker to leave for the night, and to be honest, neither really wanted to know.

She nodded. "Your father seems to be getting along well with him. They set up a cot upstairs in your father's lab, and they managed to jerry-rig a recharger for him during his stay."

"Ahh, that's good. Sooo, what's up?" He really had no idea why his mom would be here. Dinner was already over, he didn't need to get ready for bed yet… he was well and truly baffled.

She gave him a shy smile. "Well, after seeing the way you were looking at that Raven girl, I thought it was about time that you and I had a little talk…" His jaw dropped, and his eyes grew far too wide. "Oh, now… I got a look under her cloak too you know. She's a very attractive young woman…"

In that instant, the boy's body became a rigid facade of shock and horror, with only one thought resonating throughout his entire being-

_Oh GOD no…_

* * *

And so ends the intro story arc. Don't worry, it doesn't end here. Just wait for the next chapter – _Begin the Paradox._

It might've been a bit confusing, because I was trying to show both groups simultaneously and wound up backing up to where I'd left off when I switched groups, but… I think it worked out fine.

First off, Raven is a sorceress. She doesn't just have demon powers to fall back on, she's also been trained in various mind arts and rituals. Even just _in the show_, she shows they didn't just teach her to control her given powers. She received additional training, and mind-reading seems like something they'd start teaching her, but she wouldn't be naturally talented with, nor be inclined to advance very far in. And if you go by her _comic_ skill-set, telepathy would practically be _expected_ from her.

And no, I'm not trying to jump into any real Raven/Danny stuff at the moment. I'm trying to show that yes, there is a _physical_ attraction, on Danny's part mostly, and they're starting to become friends. Not so sure I did well with that… Oh well, I don't plan on them really bonding until chapter four, not realizing they actually _like _each other until chapter five or six, let alone _acting_ on those feelings… Yeah, actual relationship stuff is a bit far off at the moment.

After Malchior, Raven probably wouldn't like the thought of dating a guy that could hide things from her or lie. An open book like Danny seems like it'd be much more appealing romantically.

If there's sufficient call for it, I'll write out Danny's 'Talk' with his mother. It didn't seem relevant to the story, so I figured I'd leave it up to the readers, if they wanted to see it.

Still looking for a replacement scene-breaker... suggestions welcome.


	3. Begin the Paradox

GOOD DAY ALL. I BRING TIDINGS OF GREAT HOLIDAY CHEER.

SO MUCH CHEER.

LIKE, _ALL _OF THE CHEER.

...all of it._  
_

Had to transcribe a bit of the actual episode. If you remember it well, great- just skim over it until you come to bits you don't know. Otherwise, you might want to read it all for the little bits I've changed, which warrant transcribing so much of it.

* * *

"Hey guys." Sam said from her seat in the row behind them as Tucker and Danny made their way into the seats right in front of her.

"My, you're awfully chipper today." Danny groaned.

She smirked. "Well, I _did_ learn how a sorceress-in-training is supposed to meditate and find her magic last night…"

Danny harrumphed into his seat, while Tuck looked impressed. "That _is_ pretty cool. Now what's wrong with _you_, doctor grumpy-pants?"

The half-ghost gave his friend a deadpan look for the horrible name. "Well, mom decided since I'd been alone in the house with _two_ girls my own age now, that it was about time I got _The Talk_."

"Ooh, ouch dude." Tuck said, flopping back into his seat. "My folks just handed me some library books and told me to ask any questions I still had after reading them."

"I would've loved that. Why don't our parents talk more?" Danny demanded.

Tuck just laughed. "Dude, I dunno. What about you, Sam?"

She smiled and leaned on the seat in front of hers, which happened to be Tucker's. She could've gone into horrible detail his young male mind just wouldn't be able to handle, but she decided to spare him his fallacy with the feminine sex just this once. "My grandma cornered me with a plate of fresh cookies and said I could have _eeevery_ one of them if I sat there and took my Talk like a good little woman." She snorted at their awed looks and smiled. "I love my gramma."

As the assembly came together properly and settled in, their English teacher took the podium and started a slide show. "Your future is not carved in stone, people, but it _may_ be carved… with a number two pencil."

"Oh please…" Sam and Tucker muttered, only to be shushed by Danny, citing it as important.

"As most of you have probably forgotten, you will be taking the Career Aptitude Test on Saturday."

A voice behind them chuckled something about 'Caturday'.

"Do well," Mr. Lancer continued, motioning to Jazz seated far to his right. "Like, Ms. Fenton here, who got-"

"-the highest score in the history of the C.A.T." Danny muttered along with him. He'd heard it often enough since she took the damn test.

"-And a successful future will be assured." The teacher continued cheerfully before his tone and features hardened as he looked to his left. "Fail, like Irving 'Third Degree' Burns here, who got the _lowest _score in the history of the C.A.T…. And you will be doomed to a career," The slide ticked over ominously while he continued with slow, spiteful words. "-At the Nasty Burger."

"Hay!" The student whined, standing to defend his position. "Working at Nasty Burger takes _brains_, yanno?" He walked up to the edge of the stage, pleading for the attention of the audience. "if those forty-two _nasty _secret herbs and spices in our Nasty Sauce become overheated, it could cause an _explosion_ that could take out a whole city block!" None were moved as he stood waiting. "Oh, who'm I kidding? My life is over." He muttered dismally as he left the stage.

Everyone watched him go before Lancer held up a packet. "These aren't just the answers to the test. _They_'re… the answers _to_ _your_ _future_… So study." He said, putting it in a briefcase before handcuffing it to himself. "And remember- It's your future. _Do you want fries with it?_"

As he left the stage, Tucker saw Danny's head fall into his hands. "Dude, you okay?"

"First _The Talk_, and now this… Worst. Week. Ever." He groaned, and left with the first few students out.

"Wow… he seems really out of it." He muttered as he watched his friend go. "You think we should help him study or something?"

Sam scoffed. "He's got Jazz to help with that, he's just taking this all way too seriously."

"I hope you're right… Hey, you wanna go see if Cyborg's still at Danny's after class? He promised me a game of Doomed later today." He smiled cheerfully.

She shook her head. "Raven said they're going to check out the town today. All they really did yesterday was hit up the mall, police station and the Fenton's."

"Oh…" He groaned as they finally got up and started walking. "So what did you think of Raven, anyway?"

A sigh. "She seems really… dark. Secluded, and not in a good way… But I think we're bonding a little."

He nodded, tapping something out on his PDA. "Yeah, they're going to be busy most of today. Darn it."

Sam Snorted. "You're in contact with him? Why'd you ask _me, _then?"

"…Sake of conversation?"

(*)

Cyborg sighed as he looked down at his half-eaten burger. "I still don't know how we couldn't have any new leads yet…"

Another french fry disappeared under a blue hood. "Maybe we're not looking for 'leads'."

"Then what _are_ we looking for?" He asked, taking another bite. "And- are we _sure_ this is the most popular food place in town? This meat tastes a little funny…"

Her eyes tracked it as it floated up out of his hands, the fry in her fingers tugging itself free to follow it out the door. "…this is what you get for wishing something interesting would happen." She deadpanned.

"That was an hour ago!" He yelled as he shot to his feet and stomped his way outside.

She rolled her eyes at his antics and chose to glance around instead. The crowd seemed to be milling about for the most part, muttering anxiously amongst themselves. It struck her as odd, so she watched them. …right up until Danny Phantom phased through the roof, crashing into her table as she sat there.

"Well, this is awkward." She muttered, barely audible over the screeching of the crowd as they fled out the door. "We really should stop meeting like this, Danny."

He couldn't help but chuckle. Her monotone was _perfect_ for deadpan humor. "Just don't go 'damsel in distress' on me. We've already met our cliché quota for the week."

She hummed quietly, not sure whether to me amused or insulted as they both rose into the air opposite a ghost that just became visible. The three waited for a moment, eyeing each other while the manager ranted about workers leaving the Nasty Sauce unguarded.

Danny's eyebrows shot up. "Distract her, would you?"

Raven's eyes rolled as she encased the little ghost girl's overalls in black energy. Of course, she released her hold to create a shield when she came under attack from various sauce packets. She was the _distraction_, after all.

"Hey Boxed Lunch!" Danny called, causing the girl to turn as an ectoplasmically charged sauce packet struck her hat. "_Beware!_" He squeaked, firing a thin beam into it.

Raven, unsure what his plan might be, floated to his side just as he gasped and grabbed her by the shoulders.

She wasn't quite sure what to think when the boy she'd just started getting to know decided to hug her to his chest protectively. It wasn't a terribly _bad_ thing, despite her aversion to physical contact… she'd need to get better about it eventually, even if she never came to like being touched. She had a moment to contemplate the embrace, strong and firm, but not overly inappropriate. His arms were around her shoulders and upper back, and she disliked her breasts pressing into his chest, but that was the nature of such things as a protective embrace. The question was, what was he protecting her _from?_

…then a strange feeling flowed through her body, and something exploded.

Danny's mindset was somewhat simpler. He saw something about to explode, grabbed his new ally, and phased them both intangible. It was only _after_ they'd been blown through the wall by overt concussive force that he realized there were boobies pressed against him. Somewhat late in the experience to enjoy it, as he brought them back into tangibility and he struck the ground.

Someone shouted an obscure book reference, and everyone began to scatter.

"Danny? Raven…?" Sam asked tentatively.

It was then they realized she was still lying on top of him, and Raven leapt away as he jumped to his feet. Both were blushing furiously.

"Dude, you okay?" Was Tucker's addition to the situation. "Who was that ghost you were fighting?"

"That was Box Lunch… daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady." Danny replied in an amused tone.

"Yikes." The two other local teens mused.

"Actually, it's more of an 'eww'…" The half-ghost retorted.

Raven quirked an eyebrow. "Ghosts can progenate?"

"Apparently!" Danny roared, throwing his arms up into the air for emphasis.

Tucker bent down to pick something up as Cyborg made his way over to them. "So much for 'containing the panicked masses'… got trampled and caught outside for nothing. What happened in there?"

"He hugged me." Raven stated, without offering any other explanation.

"Ahh…" The other Titan grunted, as if that explained everything. Now he definitely wasn't going back in there… no telling how many pieces Raven left this mysterious 'he' in after an explosion like _that_.

They all noticed something shiny that was thrust between them. "I found this on the ground. …Clue?" Tuck asked. It was an odd gear-shaped medallion. Danny reached forward to grab it when he felt an odd squelching sensation on his back.

"You guys are a mess, and we probably need to talk to the authorities. Head home and get cleaned up. We'll follow later." Raven stated blandly as she moved to leave, taking the medallion with her. It was evidence, after all.

"Here man, this was stuck to your back." Cyborg said, holding out a condiment-covered folder to Danny.

"Uhh, thanks…" The boy muttered as he took it. The three turned to head home when the half-ghost froze.

Sam stopped and turned back when she noticed there were only two of them. "Danny?"

"The answers to the C.A.T.s…" He mumbled, awestruck. For a moment, his friends just watched, wondering both how the answers came to be there, and what their friend's reaction would be.

"Hello, great future!" He suddenly exclaimed, jumping up and cheering his own pre-emptive victory.

"You're not _actually_ thinking of peeking at the answers, are you?" Tucker asked quickly.

He scoffed. "Of _course_ I am," Turning to look at them while he turned back into his human form, he added, "Aren't _you_?"

A long, drawn-out sigh from his oldest friend set Danny on edge. "I don't know. Let's just get back home and…" He then made note of the fact that the half-ghost's transformation had rendered him virtually immaculate. "Well, _we'll_ get cleaned off. Later, Danny."

He waved as the two of them left, Sam shooting him a sad glance over her shoulder before jogging to catch up to Tucker. With a sigh, he started his long walk home.

(*)

It was a while after he'd gotten home that the two Titans had arrived, Raven talking to his parents and sister about having a place to stay just in case, before she left. Something about a potential problem with the Mansons, he hadn't listened closely enough to catch it. After the house had settled down again, he made his way up to his father's lab, which was serving as Cyborg's temporary room.

When he entered, he caught the larger teen tinkering on what was obviously one of his dad's pieces of anti-ghost gear. With the casual way he'd dismissed Danny's presence in the room, he had to assume the cybernetic man had asked permission first.

"Uhh, you busy? I had something I wanted to ask, but my parents aren't helpful with most things, and my sister'd probably go nosy control freak on me…"

He saw the older teen's dark skin wince as the rest of his body shuddered. "No one wants any lady to go Control Freak… trust me, I've met the guy." The way he'd started laughing at some inside joke caused Danny to chuckle too. …must've been one of their villains or something.

"Heh, it helps to have another guy to talk to about it, too…" He'd meant past experiences with Sam and Jazz when he'd said it, but it still caused a smile to break out on the older teen.

"Hey, I may not be the best to ask about lady troubles. Way back when, the ladies used to love me. Not so much these days. Some girls just can't dig the chassis." He tapped his hand to his chest, eliciting a metal 'clank'. The way he said it, it sounded like an old pain he'd simply grown used to…

Danny choked a little, before he grinned himself. "It's not a girl thing I need help with. I was just sort of wondering… have you ever cheated on anything? ...like a test?" He had no idea why he thought he should ask a _superhero _about this, but Tuck and Sam's reactions from earlier were still bugging him. Like he'd said, no one else in the house was a good idea to ask…

Cyborg's hand stilled where it was about to prod back into the mechanics of the ecto-cannon. The tool he held shifted as the teen stared at it for a bit, rolling it between his fingers in thought. Eventually, he sighed and set down the fancy screw-driver. "Nope. Can't say I have. Then again, I never needed to cheat on anything that really mattered. Why do you ask?" Danny could _see_ the red eye re-focus on him as the human eye met his stare. It was cold and calculating, but not overtly judgmental. He'd hear him out.

"Well, I was just wondering… what makes it wrong, and when is it really a bad thing… your opinion of it, I guess." That could have gone better. Why did he always stutter over his words when it mattered? He'd already caught the human eye narrowing just barely…

"You're right, I guess." Cyborg said as he snatched up the tool, jamming it into the machine. "Sometimes a little white lie isn't bad. Victimless crimes aren't hurting anyone, you'd think." Danny watched as the older teen's fingers and tools seemed to dance over the machine with a delicacy and precision he wouldn't've thought those large hands capable of. Wires were popped out and replaced, screws and bolts were loosened to replace capacitors and conduits, the power cells were inspected, partially dismantled, reassembled and replaced… it was a graceful ballet, each motion performing a task or function, no energy wasted or lost. "Just know that when you cheat, that's it. You've done bad, and you can't take it back. And not only that, but you're lying about how smart or skilled you are, so it'll just make people expect more out of you later."

Danny's eyes stayed glued until the last outer panel was replaced, the power turned on, and a '_fizzle-pop'_ preceded smoke dribbling out the gun's barrel. Cyborg harrumphed at the machine, but didn't seem irritated. After a moment, he chuckled. "I'm not your dad, kid… or your mom, or big brother. I'm not going to tell you not to do something bad, but just think about it, and the consequences it could have before you decide what to do."

The half-ghost nodded, contemplating everything he'd seen and heard in his visit. "Thanks. I've… got some thinking to do."

A smile and a nod let him know he was dismissed, and he headed back to his room. It was a slow walk while he thought, and took him almost two minutes to get there. Cyborg, still sitting and seemingly staring at the cannon, watched with his red eye as the boy's heat signature settled two floors down. His human eye closed sadly. "_Maybe I'll just copy a few of the answers…" _He heard, before shutting down the amplification to his hearing.

Shaking his head sadly, he returned to dismantling, reassembling, and attempting to repair the anti-ghost weapon. '_Not my business._' He thought with a sigh. '_All I can do here is give advice. It's his choice to follow it or not._'

The hero doesn't get to pick the villains- they just take them down when they cross the line.

'_Dammit, I'm starting to sound like Robin…_'

(*)

The three friends were sitting, studying the ghost amulet as Tucker tried to hack into it. Who knew it was a piece of technology? Raven had gotten it back after the local authorities found nothing useful on it, and had _regrettably _returned it to the Titan in lieu of the Guys in White, who would've taken it and never given them any word back on it whatsoever. It then found its way into Sam's hands, who promised to hand it over to Cyborg after Tucker'd had a look at it. It was he who'd found it, after all.

"I can't seem to hack into it… it's _really _high-tech." Their technophile friend stated.

"Yeah, like it's from the _future_ or something…" Sam added, staring at it.

Danny got up and grabbed his backpack. "Well, speaking of futures, I guess it's time I started preparing for _mine_…" He said, almost… _reluctantly_.

"You mean you're going to cheat?" Sam asked angrily.

"I didn't say cheat…" He countered.

"You didn't say _not_ cheat." Tucker added accusingly.

He sighed, running his hand over his forehead. "Guys, come on- I would've loved to have spent the last month studying, but I was busy _saving the town from ghosts_. I think I've earned a few concessions for my heroics." They shared a look. Danny didn't like that look. "Besides, if this test is no big deal, why does it even matter if I cheat? I'm not even going to copy _all_ the answers… just enough to get by at least average. Name _one_ reason I shouldn't do that." They were silent, but their sad looks told him more than he wanted to know. "No answer, huh?" He pulled the packet of answers from his backpack. "More than enough answer for me."

Even though he said it, he still hesitated with his hand at the seal. Was this _really_ what he wanted? He steeled himself and tore the seal.

A wave of blue mist gushed from his mouth as a ghostly figure materialized in the room. Sam and Tuck sighed before pretending, badly, to scream in fear.

Danny transformed and flung himself at the enemy- a suit of high-tech armor crowned with an over-the-top flaming head. All this, from the torso down was floating on a ghostly tail, and an odd porthole seemed to be placed directly in the center of the chest, with a second face. It was all rather disturbing, he noted, before the thing swatted him out of the air and into a wall before he could land a blow.

"Who're _you_ supposed to be?" The ghost-boy asked irately.

The thing floated closer and grinned. "I am Skulk-Tech nine-point-nine. The _future_ ghost-world's greatest hunter!" The flaming head replied.

"With its greatest techno-villain as his operating system." The face on the chest added.

Danny blinked, boggled by their words. "Skulker and Technus, _together_?"

"Is that an eww, or a yikes?" Tucker asked, perplexed.

Seven clawed mechanical tentacles suddenly sprouted from the back of the amalgamation.

"Definitely a yikes." Danny said as he dodged one of the claws and went intangible, grabbing his friends on his way through the wall. "Get the Titans. _GO!_" He told them sternly, before phasing back through the wall.

The two shared a glance before they parted- Tucker running upstairs, and Sam traversing the downward stairs a third the flight per bound.

Danny glared at the ghost, peripherally taking in the damage to his room. He'd have to fix it all _again!_ Two claws shot towards him, and he leapt to the side. As he struck the ground, he rolled to the side just as another nearly impaled him. This time a beam of energy followed two of the claws. He went intangible as he finished his roll, leaping into the air. "What do you _want_ with me!" He yelled, returning fire and summarily being forced into evasive maneuvers.

A metal tendril blocked the beam and became scorched for doing so. "A pelt has no need for an answer, _half-ghost_." And so the barrage continued. After several moments of ducking and weaving, one of the claws slammed into his neck, pinning him to the wall. Three others began to whirl, the blades of their claws becoming akin to mix of saw and blender as they closed in on him.

"Say goodbye-"

"-Ghost-child!"

A beeping sound began to emanate from the amalgam's wrist, which it raised to inspect a small screen. "Someone's hacking into the system! _AGAIN! I thought we fixed that!_"

"We _DID_!" The ghost's second half replied as the tentacles retracted. "We must've accidentally linked up to someone else's PDA-!" It screamed as the entirety of it went intangible and flew through the ceiling.

"Wow…" Tucker said as the door opened to reveal him and Cyborg. "I can still hack into his operating system with my handheld computer… I don't know whether that's exciting- or depressing."

Danny smirked. "C'mon! Follow me!" he called, and flew after his opponent.

"We'll walk." Tucker started, before a set of keys were dangled in front of him, and he turned to a grinning cyber-teen. "-or not!" He added cheerfully, making to grab for the keys.

"_I'M_ drivin'." The older teen said, tossing the keys up and catching them.

(*)

A smile crossed the half-ghost's face as he gained enough ground to shoot the future-ghost out of the air, causing him to fall into the wreckage of the Nasty Burger. He flew down after them, caught off guard when a blue beam shot out of the wreckage, knocking him back. As Skulk-Tech soared into the air, he fired another beam from his palm.

When this second shot struck him, two white rings enveloped him as he transformed back. It took him a moment to realize what'd happened and reverse the process. "You're shorting out my powers?" He yelled in shock.

"Indeed." Skulker's future self began to gloat. "The Pummeler may not work on you in the future, but we had a _feeling_ it would work on you _here_."

Danny was getting a _very _bad feeling about all this. "The _future_? What're you talking about?"

Technus' face was about to reply when a beam of blue sonic energy struck their collective back, followed by a booming cry of "BOOYEAH!"

Both of them turned to find Cyborg and Tucker exiting the T-Car, the Titan continuing to fire as the younger boy fiddled with a mechanically augmented thermos. "You guys made it!" Danny yelled.

"You better believe it!" Tuck yelled, before yelping as he dodged an energy beam.

Skulk-Tech was throwing everything he had at the two African-American teens, phasing through or dodging all of the sonic cannon's blasts. Danny smirked as he let off a blast of his own into the ghost's back. "You guys never learn, do you?" he mused.

"_Enough!_" The amalgam roared as it launched a flurry of missiles in all directions, each homing in on one of the three.

Danny and Cyborg did their best to shoot down the hostile projectiles, but the half-ghost was forced to put up a ghost-shield as ectoplasmic beams rained down on him. The shield withstood the assault until the few missles left in the air struck home, blasting him out of the air.

This was the chaotic scene that Sam and Raven found as they appeared out of a nearby shadow. Sam was the first to pick out a familiar monochrome form falling from the sky. "Raven!" She called, bringing the Titan's attention to her as she pointed at the freefalling boy.

There was only time for her to teleport just above the ground her new ally was about to strike, attempting to catch him and merely softening his crash as they collided. The pair were immediately enwrapped in a metal clamp and viciously electrocuted, Danny's powers short-circuiting as it happened, turning him human.

"Now, I'm _ANGRY!_" Roared a singed-but-standing tucker, sans thermos, as he held his PDA out towards the ghost. A thin red line connected it to Skulk-Tech's chest before electricity danced along the suit's surface and the ghost fell, smoking, into the edge of a building roof.

"A little help?" Raven groaned as she attempted to wriggle free from the restraint, waking Danny with her efforts.

Sam and Tucker immediately ran to their aid, attempting to pull the restraint off of them. Cyborg kept his cannon trained on the ghost, the arms of which were still dangling off the side of the roof, as he slowly sidled towards them to help.

He wasn't expecting a small medallion to drop from the ghost's neck, forcing the now-unanchored ghost back where it came from- the effect then flowing down the thick cable and swallowing all four of the others.

"Uhh… guys?" Cyborg called, looking around for any trace of the others or their enemy. "Ahh, crap." He sighed, opening up the communicator on his wrist. Time to call Robin…

(*)

The five flew out of a portal, the clamp releasing as it struck the floor of wherever they'd been brought.

They helped each other up and began to trek forward. "Where are we?" Tucker asked the question on everyone's minds.

"I dunno." Danny replied as he looked out a window. "The Ghost Zone, I think… but no part of the Ghost Zone I've ever seen."

"It must've happened just after his medallion dropped off…" Sam said, eliciting a nod of agreement from Raven.

"Then I think I know how to get us back…" Tucker grinned, walking over to a row of the medallions hanging from pegs. Quickly snatching one and donning it, he turned back to them. "Ta-da! …nothing, huh?"

"No, but nice bling." Sam quipped.

"I don't like this, guys…" Danny started ominously.

Sam called back from where she'd wandered. "You're going to like this even less…"

The other three walked up behind her, looking up at a circular portal-like image showing an evil incarnation of Phantom laying waste to an army of assault vehicles. Under the image was the bold text- 'FUTURE: 10 YEARS'.

Raven turned away as she heard the goth continue- "I think we're seeing your future, Danny…" The Titan nodded along with her assessment as she walked. "…and you're kind of a jerk." Another moment passed. "Okay, you're _really_ a jerk."

She'd already tuned out the conversation from the younger teens when she found view-screens dotting the walls, each flashing between facets of what she could only assume was more of the future by the denotations under each.

FUTURE: 2 YEARS- The Watchtower, orbiting headquarters of the Justice League that she'd only ever seen pictures of, burned as small explosions dotted its hull. The screen flashed closer to show a pale, white-and-black clad figure as it pushed the station towards the Earth. She only had time to notice it was heading towards the north-east of the continent right below it as her eyes shifted to the next screen.

FUTURE: 3 YEARS- Titan's Tower. The bastion of heroism that stood vigil over Jump City, ripped up from its base, taking part of the island with it as it was thrown fully into the city, leveling half a district as it crashed down. The same cackling ghost-man and his horde of duplicates then began raining green beams upon the city.

FUTURE: 5 YEARS- Images of the now-bulking frame of the common menace, flashing between images of forests and tropical paradises… as they were each in turn engulfed in waves of green fire.

FUTURE: 7 YEARS- What she could only suspect were the last remnants of the world's worn and ragged superheroes made their stand against the ghost monster, she felt her eyes tearing. There were so few… they were so beaten… they were so broken… At the fore were three figures, one she was shocked to find looked like an elder version of herself, but gone were the blue cape and red clasp, no more was her lustrous violet hair. All was black. Beside her floated the tired form of Superman, and beside him, The Martian Manhunter.

And suddenly their enemy was gone. Just as suddenly, Superman's hand lashed out, knocking J'onn's head clear from his shoulders before turning back to Raven- his eyes now glowing a vile red, and his teeth showing in a feral- _evil_, grin.

She could watch no more. She fell to her knees, head clasped in her hands.

And she wept.

* * *

I didn't want to transcribe the whole auditorium scene, and a few others, but I felt quite a few of the parts I _did _change wouldn't make sense without some of the parts I _didn't_ change. I skipped over as much of the episode as I thought I could, I assure you.

Also- no idea why, but Raven strikes me as a 'nibble on the fries while everyone else eats at the fast food place' kind of person.

Cyborg not fixing the cannon- While Jack surely did show Cyborg most if not all of his data on ghost-tech, as well as handing off a busted cannon to tinker on, Cy's still new to the technology, and the thing was busted for a reason. (I honestly don't know what, though) It's a new toy to tinker with, he's not going to get frustrated with learning an interesting new thing. If he fixes it, sweet- If he doesn't, that's another thing he and Jack get to try and fix.

Just because I'm not sure everyone can figure out why and what was going on in the future-flashes, I'm going to detail them here.

Year 2 – After taking two years just making a general menace of himself and gaining a tentative mastery over the power he absorbed from merging with Plasmius, Dan creates a good number of duplicates to ransack a big city and draw the Justice League away from their floating fortress long enough for the original to fly up and destroy it, bringing its flaming wreckage down on top of them (whichever unlucky ones couldn't escape in time or use powers to survive it, die). This shakes up the legendary heroes enough for Dan to stand a fighting chance.

Year 3 – Dan and a horde of duplicates (having now fully mastered Plasmius' ability with the technique, he can make several dozen) rip Titan's Tower out of its island and chuck it into the city. Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy are slain, either in the tower's crash, or the ensuing onslaught. Starfire and Raven begin wearing black costumes to honor their fallen comrades.

Year 5 – Dan begins to obliterate the world's resources. Having grown tired of targeting cities and heroes strong enough to repel him, he plans to weaken them by destroying their food, water, and building materials.

Year 6 – Starfire is killed in an assault against Dan, and Raven in a fit of rage and angst, begins dying her hair black (magically or otherwise).

Year 7 – Everything not inside Amity Park's ghost shield starts to die. The heroic vanguard of Superman, The Martian Manhunter, and Raven -those who previously were impervious to overshadowing- are the heavy hitters in the fight. However, Dan unveils a new overshadowing ability (possibly turning to mist -as shown in the canon episode- and being breathed in) and uses Superman to lay waste to the other heroes.

Such a happy way of looking at things I have. :D


	4. The Rise of Dan

The fateful DIVERGE FROM THE CANON EPISODE. I swear it happens this chapter. : /

…eventually.

ANYWAY!

I didn't know until I'd started writing this that Clockwork was voiced by David Carradine. That is one _seriously_ scary voice to have angry at you.

And now we see…

_The Rise of Dan_

* * *

Sam called back from where she'd wandered. "You're going to like this even less…"

The other three walked up behind her, looking up at a circular portal-like image showing an evil incarnation of Phantom laying waste to an army of assault vehicles. Under the image was the bold text- 'FUTURE: 10 YEARS'.

The goth continued- "I think we're seeing your future, Danny…" a moment passed while they watched the evil phantom destroy several buildings. "…and you're kind of a jerk." The future Danny took in a deep breath and blew a battalion of futuristic squad cars, tanks and assault helicopters away with a sonic blast. "Okay, you're _really_ a jerk."

"Wow!" Danny cheered as he stepped closer. "What is that, some sort of _ghostly wail_? What a cool power!" He turned back to his friends to see them staring at him coldly. "If… it weren't being used… for _evil_!" He amended hastily.

They rolled their eyes before Tucker turned back to Skulk-Tech. "Let's see if _this_ future-boy knows anything more about-" He'd just started pressing keys and eliciting beeps on his PDA when the ghostly amalgamation began to glow blue, float, and fly through the portal they'd been watching. "-I didn't do that." He added quickly.

"I did." An ominous voice seemed to boom as it echoed down from the rafters. The three Amity Park teens all turned their eyes on the hooded blue ghost as he slowly descended. "I sent him back to his own time, or should I say-" The ghost suddenly aged into an old man before their eyes. "-_forward_, to his own time. You see, for me, time moves backwards-" he became an infant, then immediately shifted to middle-aged. "-and forward, and…" he shifted into an old man, suddenly looking every one of his impressive years. "Oh, why am I bothering… You're _fourteen_."

"Who are you?" Danny demanded. "Where _are_ we?"

"Introductions? _Fine_. I am Clockwork, master of time_._" He shifted back into his infant form. "I have been charged with the task of _eliminating_ your future, so _that-"_

He was cut off by a large black gear flying towards him.

(*)

Raven brought her hands up to her cheeks. She was _crying_. She stared at her wet palms in horror. Was she losing control of her emotions? If she looked at it rationally, she had every reason to be a little distraught- she'd just gotten used to the idea of spending the rest of her life fighting evil with the Titans instead of being the catalyst to the world's end, and now…

She shook her head. There was no proof that what she'd seen was true. Who was to say any of that had to happen? "I did." A voice broke her train of thought, as if reading her mind.

She listened to the ghost's monologue with distaste. _Master of time?_ She could hardly believe it as the anger began to bubble beneath her skin. With a deep breath, she forced it back down. Now was not the time to lose the control she'd spent a decade building. She took a moment to wipe her face with the edge of her cape, and listened. This was the time to watch, wait, and gather information to determine a course of action.

And then he said something about destroying their future.

She reached out a hand, enveloping one of the obscenely large gears nearby in black energy, lifting it up and sending it at the ghost.

And then he vanished.

"You Titans have also done your share of _mucking about_ in the timestream…" She spun in midair to find him grinning grandfatherly behind her. "What a mess _that _could've been… _Do_ be a dear, and thank Starfire for me, would you?"

She smashed together two gears where he'd been floating a moment before. "Now that's just rude." She heard behind her. "Why can't you be a good little hero and sit back while I end him?"

The boy in question took offense to this. "Hey!" Going ghost, he flew at the time-master, only to watch him disappear again. "Stop _doing_ that!"

The ghost, now middle-aged, floated off to the side with a cocky grin. "No."

Danny growled, shooting off like a bullet as fast as he could go, intent on landing his fist _right _on the lightning-bolt scar on the ghost's cheek. The blue ghost simply tapped the button atop his staff and sped around to the half-ghost's side. "Time _in_." He intoned, watching the poor boy slam into the clock-tower's massive bell.

"I could do this all day…" he muttered, reversing time and watching the boy repeatedly run head-first into it with a 'gong'. "…But I have a schedule to keep."

Raven floated up behind the ghost as Danny fell to the floor. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." She stated coldly.

"You _are_ persistent, aren't you?" He muttered darkly before slowing time, weaving around each of the- admittedly _large-_ things Raven was throwing at him, as well as the various grasping claws and bolts of energy. He chuckled as he made his way up into the rafters to grab a scythe from one of the statues, and then down to the half-ghost's side to split him in two with it.

"_Daaaannnyyyy- waaatch oooouut-!"_ He heard the goth girl scream, distorted by his time manipulations. He rolled his eyes. It was so _unfair_ to be the master of time in situations like these. He sighed as he let time slip back into its normal speed. It could be so _frustrating _to give people a sporting chance, sometimes…

The scythe split the gear he'd been leaning against in two as he dashed away through the air. The master of time continued the motion to part a gear that was heading for his back, even as he shifted to his smaller infant form while the halves passed. "And now to end this…" He growled, causing eyes to widen through the room as he pressed the button on his scepter. "Time _out._"

In one moment, Raven was floating next to Sam while watching the ghost -scythe in the hand of his stronger midlife form- heading toward Danny, having just teleported down from the rafters. In the next, Tucker held the weapon, Danny was flashing around the room to rest next to the girls, and the blue ghost was glowering at them. She looked down at the gear-shaped medallion hanging from her neck in confusion.

"Huh? What happened?" The half-ghost asked.

"We leveled the playing field." Sam said, holding up her own identical pendant. "Just get the bad guy!"

"You four have seen too much." Clockwork intoned ominously, shifting to his elder form. "You must be eliminated before you _permanently_ alter the timestream."

Dozens of ghosts began to appear, each seemingly from a different era or technological period, all blue- bearing an identical lightning bolt scar across the eye and down the left cheek as Clockwork himself. This seemed rather unimportant to the four terrified teens, though. "…nowhere to run, children." The master of time prompted.

Danny glanced around frantically before grabbing his friends and shouting "Nowhere but the future!" and flying off toward the portal, calling out Raven's name just before going through.

The Titan watched them go, turned back to the horde of blue ghosts, and followed. Before she went through, she barely caught the ghost speaking again.

"Then let's see if you have what it takes to _face_ that future…"

(*)

She supposed it was fortuitous that she appeared just before Danny, now encased in a glowing pink net, was able to find out how much the bazooka-like cannon pointed at him would've hurt had it fired. It was held by a red combat-suit wearing black woman with a military-standard hairstyle. The weapon was encased in black energy and ripped from her grasp as Sam and Tucker came to his aid.

"Sam? Tucker? Impossible… You can't be here. You _can't _be alive!" The woman began to yell as she backed away from them.

The two were shocked. "Not alive? _That's_ our future?" Tucker began frantically.

"That seems to be a lot of people's future." Raven stated darkly as she floated down next to them.

Suddenly, the woman tensed, glaring at the now-free Danny. "And it's all _your_ fault!"

A wave of green energy swept the woman away, and a dark voice stated "Actually, that was _me_." bringing everyone's attention to the floating figure of Danny's future self. "And… _you._" His eyes widened and his tone lowered.

He seemed to teleport as he appeared behind Raven, his foot already extending as he spun, delivering a devastating kick to her side. His mad grin widened at the sickening _crunch_ of bone as she flew away, toppling the remains of a brick wall. "Always hated her." He muttered, watching the dust cloud for a moment before turning back to the amity teens. "Now where were we?"

A beam of violet energy caught him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He glared at where Valerie knelt, blowing the smoke from the nozzle of her wrist-mounted laser.

(*)

"Yes, Robin, I'm _sure_ Raven's gone." Cyborg said _for the third time_. "Her and the three she was with, including the local hero, got caught up in something and disappeared."

_"It's just hard to believe she's nowhere nearby."_ The Boy Wonder's voice came over the communicator.

A single human eye rolled. "I've been using the T-Car's tech to boost my sensors, Rob. I'm pretty sure there's no one with her, erm… _unique_ genealogy anywhere in the _state_."

A long moment passed. "_So what are we going to do?"_

"I'm headed for the Fenton's now." Cyborg replied. "Maybe they can tell me more about this 'Ghost Zone' thing. That might be where they're at."

_"Right. Keep in touch. Robin out."_

(*)

Raven wasn't sure, but she had a feeling her demonic heritage gave her a higher pain threshold than most girls her age. She'd noticed several -Starfire didn't count, as she was Tamaranian- just couldn't stand as much damage as she could, think as well while injured… that might be part of her sorceress training, though. Regardless, her train of thought wasn't helping her assess her damage.

The blood she coughed up when she tried to take a deep breath did a bit to help with that, though. _Definitely punctured a lung with that broken rib… _she mused. _No concussion, I think. Still a nasty head wound… that's usual when a wall falls on you, though._ She ceased her self-assessment when it became clear that these were what needed to be addressed immediately. She placed a hand on her abdomen, glowing a healing blue, as she tried to remove the rib from her lung and set it. It took a moment, a long moment- but she eventually managed to focus through the pain and stitch the wall of her lung passably, and had the bone holding itself in place for now. …Now came getting all this blood out of her eye. She had some idea why head wounds bled so profusely, but it was still frustrating to deal with. Hit once _remotely_ above your brow, and bam. You're blind.

Calming breath.

Hack up more blood.

_Calmer _breath.

She needed to keep her emotions in line or the wound wouldn't heal, cleaning out her eye would do no good because more blood would just get in it, and she'd have to take more time healing it anyway. Priorities. She needed to prioritize. Keep herself alive- she was doing that now, check. Find out the situation with Danny and the others… the battle seemed to have moved away after that loud wailing noise kicked up more dust, and made another brick fall on her head. _Bastard._

Calming breath. Only a cough this time, good.

Now, after she was done healing herself, she could-

"Well, hello there."

_Dammit._

(*)

He was about to rush the red huntress when a green beam struck his shoulder from behind and up high.

"Valerie! Tag-team!" The young Danny yelled.

She'd seen several of the ghost-monster's tricks over the years, but none of them had ever had him _shooting himself_ before… or Sam or Tucker… Still vigilant, she nodded, and sent another blast at the ghost while lobbing two ecto-grenades with her free hand.

A second Dan shimmered into existence behind him, speeding off toward Valerie as the original launched into the air after his younger self. Danny, however, launched a ball of charged ectoplasm down at the clone before turning intangible to phase through the elder Phantom's fist. The attack distracted the duplicate just long enough for the red huntress to tag its chest with a pair of wrist-laser blasts and dissipating it.

So, the young half-ghost was floating and trading blows with his evil mirror-self and losing- badly. Valerie did what she could to provide support fire without hitting her tentative ally in the too-long moments it took for her hoverboard to reinitialize and return to pick her up.

She sped into the air just as a beam detonated the area she was standing in. She then circled the pair, the older menacing Phantom still landing more bruises on his younger form as she played the hawk, ready to swoop in at any moment. Whenever she saw an opening, she'd let loose a volley of red ecto-rays, but so far… the battle didn't seem to be going in their favor.

Dan didn't need an army of clones to beat them- and he _knew _it.

(*)

"Hold it steady, Tuck." Sam ordered again as she watched the battle above them.

"I'm _holding_ it steady, this thing's just _heavy_!" He replied from behind her.

She rolled her eyes. How Val and the Fentons could swing things like this around, and pull them out of seemingly _nowhere_, she would likely _never_ know. Tucker was savvier as far as the how-to of the ghost-tech went. Sam was just better at shooting them than him.

It was pure luck that they'd happened upon the ecto-cannon Raven had relieved from Valerie earlier. Now if they could just _lift_ the thing…

"Okay Tuck, _now_!"

(*)

Valerie was still circling them, and Danny was still fighting for his life. It was worse than fighting _Vlad_! He could barely believe it. Just as he was flinching back from a punch he knew would be _particularly_ painful… his opponent was knocked away in a deluge of pink and red energy.

He and the red huntress traded confused expressions before they followed a second shot back to Sam and Tucker.

With a smirk, he started throwing his own barrage of ghost rays at his future self, and noticed Val taking the hint too. They could do this. They were _winning _now!

…except for the thick green shield between them and Dan.

With a roar, the wall of ectoplasm exploded outward, sending the fliers reeling through the air. As he righted himself, he caught where the ghost-menace was looking.

"Sam, Tucker! RUN!"

"Run?" His future self taunted up at him as he landed, watching the pair abandon their nook in the side of a destroyed building. "Where are they going to go?"

And then he wailed. The ground shook and the air trembled. Danny watched for a moment in horror as the buildings all began to fall. He never noticed Dan turning his attack on him and Valerie until it was far too late. He lost sight of his friends in the painful mid-air tumble that shook him to his bones.

His awkward ascent was halted sharply. He looked up to see Dan holding him upside-down by his ankle. The grin he wore was more than mildly unsettling. "Catch."

Danny was then spun until he felt he might lose whatever was in the ghostly equivalent of his stomach, and then thrown fully away from Dan… straight into one of his doppelgangers. The kick the clone landed on his side knocked the wind out of him, sending him flying straight into the ground with a force that sent a sharp, world-bending pain through his shoulder on impact. He barely noticed the pain of leaving a small crater in the beat-up road, or that of skidding and tumbling along the asphalt into the rubble that remained of the dilapidated buildings he last saw Sam and Tucker near.

After regaining enough of his faculties to wheeze out what amounted to half an '_oww', _the ghost-boy shook his head to clear the shock from his cranium and the dust from his hair, which only served to make his headache worse and his eyes water- his legs and hip were propped up semi-vertically on a downed wall, which meant his back was arched at a painful angle and all the dust had settled on his face. He summarily collapsed sideways, curled into a fetal position and rubbed his eyes clear while dearly hoping his evil self would give him time to clear his eyes, head and lungs. He didn't need to breathe, but it was just so damned _irritating_ to have an organ internally caked with dust and sediment.

And ectoplasmic lifeblood. But, since the organs themselves were probably semisolid ectoplasm, that just amounted to semantics he didn't have the time to ponder at the moment…

His eyes now clear, his head only throbbing half as much as it was, and his lungs working furiously to expunge foreign matter, he found himself snugly encapsulated within a jigsaw of ruined architecture. He began to drag himself through dust and graveled asphalt on his elbows, slowly crawling between shattered brick, cracked mortar and ruined concrete, hoping to preserve the energy he'd spend turning intangible and flying out… and hoping to remain undetected as long as possible. Though whether this was from some logical, tactical need to rest and regroup before re-entering the fray, or an innate primal fear of an overwhelmingly superior -and pure _evil_- opponent, he'd never know.

Danny's eyes caught a glimpse of daylight, and he crawled faster. He almost didn't notice the clatter of metal underneath him in his rush toward open air. Digging it out from under him, he found in his hands one of Clockwork's iconic medallions. "Sam…" was his hoarse whisper as he gripped the second gear poking into his side. "…Tucker."

He shut his eyelids tightly as tears welled up beneath them. _His friends were safe._ They escaped into the past by taking off their temporal anchors. Which meant…

White-gloved hands froze over the lattice of cloth holding his own medallion around his neck. He was missing something… there was an absence in the equation. An expansive void in the pit of his stomach he just couldn't pin down…

His eyes widened.

_Raven._

(*)

"What do you _mean_ Danny got taken by some ghost!" Maddie screeched at Cyborg after he'd explained the situation. Let no one say the cybernetic teen wasn't observant enough to try matching up an image of Fenton and Phantom in his head to see if they really _were_ that similar to shocking results… but secret identities be damned, he had no right to not tell a mother her son might be in trouble.

"I _mean_, Mrs. Fenton, that Raven, Danny and his friends disappeared along with it when it vanished. I've checked, and Raven's nowhere nearby. I have to assume they're with her, and I need to know if they could be in the Ghost Zone."

After a moment, she nodded. "We can take the Specter Speeder. It's got sensors that can detect people and objects from the human world while in the Ghost Zone." They were quickly heading down to the garage now. "Jack's not home. Neither is Jazz. Let's hope wherever they are, they don't need more backup than just us."

Cyborg could only nod, even if she couldn't see it.

(*)

She cursed in her head as she heard Danny's future self speak from where he'd raised the slab of wall above her. She could practically _hear_ the smirk in his voice. She tried to teleport away when his hand shot out and gripped her neck.

"Ah, ah, ahh…" He shook his finger slowly as he remanded her. Suddenly it felt as if she'd been strung up to a power plant as electricity coursed through her veins. Her muscles contracted and tightened of their own volition as she spasmed. The crash that had resulted from him ceasing his suspension of the wall was lost on her. Finally, after the two seconds of eternity ended, she felt drained and weak. As much as she tried, she couldn't throw him off with her powers.

"Now then…" His grip tightened, and she rasped in one last breath before the ability was beyond her. "I think you've been a thorn in my side far, far too long. Even after I finally _killed you_, here you are."

He was snarling now, and the gleam in his red eyes had turned manic. As much as she didn't want to admit it… she was terrified. The grip tightened until she heard and felt several painful pops in her neck, his grin widening all the while until they heard a voice.

"_Raven!_ The medallion! Take it off!" Danny yelled as he flew at them at top speed- far, far too slowly to stop his future self from ripping the thing from her neck, turning it intangible, and ramming it into her stomach.

Danny was distraught at this- he could see her eyes widen at the impact, and how weak she was. He formed two balls of ecto-energy in his hands and, in an act of desperation, slammed them together as he approached, bringing the discus-blade of energy down on the monstrous arm that held the girl, right at the soft elbow joint.

His older self grunted as he released Raven, the girl sucking in air greedily and passing out as she struck the ground.

"You…" Dan muttered, inspecting his arm. Both he and his younger form were staring at the gash along the joint. "You _cut_ me!"

The young half-ghost shook himself out of his stupor and moved to punch the red-eyed beast, only to find that a fist had snapped itself into his own face lightning-fast. As Danny flew backward, the ghost snorted, opened up a portal into the ghost zone, and viciously threw the girl at his feet through. Let the ghosts of her future devour the demon, for all he cared. He stalked toward his stunned younger self, plucking the boy from the air where he'd stalled.

"And now what're you going to do?" Dan grinned, shocking Danny just as he did Raven, watching the boy change back to his human form and fall limp in his grasp. He performed the same action with the boy's medallion as he had with the Titan's, causing him to groan, even as the older ghost let a thick rope of green energy flow from his fingers and wrapped it tightly around him.

(*)

They'd had to fight their way through dozens of ghosts, most of which were barely an annoyance, but fighting _one_ dragon was already far too many in Cyborg's opinion. He hadn't even _wanted _to know _they_ had ghosts, too. In the end, they found a shoe, a frisbee, a slinky, several dog chew-toys and a mountain of socks.

Apparently, there was a Sock Ghost.

Solving the mystery of where the missing sock always ends up was a hollow victory in the face of the fact that there weren't any more real-world items in the ghost zone that they could detect.

Knowing they couldn't help more than they already had, they decided to head back. They needed to tell Jack, after all.

* * *

I'm actually starting to grow fond of '(*)'... it kinda' looks like a tiny little ghost going 'rawr!' and trying to be scary, but just being too damned cute...

*cough* anywhut... That's the update for this month. I'll be back in February.

Also- I'm sorry I'm so mean to Raven, but my Beta actually managed to convince me _not_ to do some of the things I'd intended, so... uhh... I really have a bad habit of screwing over my characters?

Heh, hope that's enough cliffhanger for you. Going to see the end of Arc 1 next chapter.


	5. The Last Titan

This is easily the longest chapter in the fic so far.

Epic fight scenes, too. :3

So, now let's get on with the notes...

It occurs to me now that Danny _could _get Raven's medallion out if he was careful… but the question is, would that occur to _him_? I don't think it would, and it'd still leave him stranded in the future, just alone.

I went back to check something when I didn't know how to format thought. It seems I didn't use any marks like '_so and so thought so and so' _and just left it italic in previous chapters, unless it was in a larger sentence. So, I don't really know what to do with that. The natural feeling is to do like the first example there, and have marks around them. Oddly, I'm drawing a blank as to what those marks are called. Anyway, this might flop to and fro a bit, but I'll try to keep it working like I have it. Not using marks makes it look cleaner, but could get a tad confusing. Bleh. I'll just go with what seems appropriate for the sentence it's in.

Going to flash-forward a bit to our leading lady, because I feel it makes for a better opener than the other options. So, when the next bit is back a bit, don't get all confuddled.

And now, for the chapter I'd actually named before the fic itself-

_The Last Titan_

* * *

Raven was cold.

She wasn't shivering, she wasn't breathing out a condensed mist… it wasn't a normal cold.

It was a primordial cold. A _supernatural_ one.

It unnerved her, but she actually didn't mind it. Curled up as she was, she couldn't alleviate it. As she floated through the cold, she had to wonder if it was so dark because everything was black, or if she didn't have the strength to open her eyes.

_Damn concussion… I thought needing to stay awake was a Hollywood myth._

A gentle rocking took hold of her floating form as wind caused her hair and cloak to flutter. A sound… a voice? No… it wasn't quite right to be a voice. It called to her- its mournful sorrowing tone was like a beacon of pain and anguish. It was resonating with something deep inside her.

She cringed, clutching herself tighter as her mind forced itself awake. She blinked warily at the swirling green that made up the world she found herself in, populated by sparse rock outcroppings without anchors and doors of all kinds dotting the horizon like stars. Upon closer inspection, there weren't just doors… portholes, archways, portcullis…

_Gateways_.

She shook away her mind's whisperings and noticed something was different. It took her a second to realize it. The voice was gone, and with it, the shaking, rocking, fluttering waves that came with it.

By Azar, she was starting to _wax poetic_.

She definitely needed to get her head wound seen to, she decided as she flew off at top speed towards where the voice had emanated from.

(*)

He let out a groan as he woke up, glancing about at the wreckage of the town as memories of the last few minutes- _was that all it was? -_came back to him. They'd fought his evil future self and lost.

A cold voice halted his struggles against the glowing green rope of ectoplasm that held him. "So there's still some spunk in you left…" The originator of the voice came into view bearing a taunting, wickedly fanged grin. "So good to see I wasn't _entirely_ as pathetic as you'd shown me back then."

"Let me go!" Danny raged. "What'd you do to them, where's Raven and Valerie!"

His spiteful laughter was haunting as it echoed around them. "Oh trust me, the ghost hunter won't be bothering us again." There was something in the way he said it… in the way he jeered and smirked.

Valerie was dead.

"Oh, don't make that face." The monster spat. "She was in our way, so she had to go."

Danny's sorrow roared into a boiling rage. "I'll _never_ be like you!"

His older self rolled his eyes. "More teen hero drivel. We could go back and forth about this all day, but I've got some_when_ to be." He smirked as he held up one of Clockwork's medallions. Danny's eyes widened as he looked down at his own chest. "Fused inside you…" Dan said as he noticed the motion. "Intangible and unreachable whether you're ghost _or_ human, which means you're stuck here."

"But…" Danny was trying to find something wrong with what his older self was saying. Something he could refute. Anything that would disprove everything that'd happened already. "…but if I'm stuck here, I can't become you anyway." He stated with an insolent grin.

"Semantics." Dan shrugged, his tone deadpan and uncaring. "I still exist, therefore _you_ became _me._ The minor details are irrelevant." He walked over casually and picked his younger self up effortlessly by his bindings. "Now you be a good boy and stay put while I go back and make sure _nothing_ can stop me." He growled, hurling Danny into the conveniently active hole to the ghost zone he'd made to toss Raven into.

(*)

Jack sat ominously still as Maddie relayed a summary of Cyborg's combat report and their search of the Ghost Zone. Seeing the normally jovial man this quiet was highly unsettling to say the least. It was almost worse than a talkative Raven. The man's eyes were narrowed in thought before he suddenly stood. "Maddie, you take the Specter Speeder and go call and find Jazz. We'll need her help on this. Cyborg, you take your car and I'll take the Ghost Assault Vehicle, and we'll start searching right away."

The mechanical teen nodded and left, even as Maddie dove down the stairs to the Speeder's hanger. The first thing she did was grab a set of Fenton Phones from where they always kept them in the Speeder, and used them to contact her kids. First she tried connecting to Danny's cell phone, which got no signal, and then Jazz.

…she knew putting those extra chips in their cell phones would pay off someday.

"Hello?" She heard in the earpiece.

She gave a heavy sigh of relief even as her craft shot into the air. "Jazz? Sweety? We have a problem. Your brother, his friends and Raven are missing. Where are you?"

"Mom? I'm… here with Sam and Tucker. I found them at the Nasty Burger and-"

"Stay there hon, I'll be there in half a minute."

True to her word, she was setting the speeder down in the alleyway- next to the partially-destroyed Nasty Burger the kids were in- twenty-seven seconds later.

"Misses Fenton! Hi, erm, we were just…"

The hazmat-clad woman wouldn't have any of Sam's misdirection today. The scientist glared down the young woman from behind what now looked to be _angry red_ goggles, what wasn't hidden by them a scowling rigor of fury.

Mama bear was _pissed_.

"My son is missing. He went missing with you. What. Happened. …Where is he?" Her words were calm and enunciated. She wasn't going to be 'heard wrong' today.

Sam and Tucker gulped reflexively.

(*)

Danny was having a bad day.

First he had to fight Box Lunch. That wasn't so bad until the Nasty Burger exploded. The fight with Skulk-Tech was less pleasant, but still okay until they met Clockwork. That was a barrel of laughs… and then there was his evil future self.

Sometimes he couldn't help but think of his life like a mediocre Saturday-morning cartoon.

It didn't help at all that most of the ghosts he'd ever fought were there in the future, beating him senseless for something he hadn't done… at least not yet, by any reckoning. At first he thought it was unfair, that he would be blamed for something he hadn't done. Then, just for an instant, he thought the irony hilarious… but after the blows kept coming, he started to grow afraid. Fear for his friends if he didn't escape, fear for Raven wherever she was… fear for his family, knowing that his future self had something horrible planned for them. Gradually these gave way to a deeper fear. Each crumbled away, leaving only one primal fear behind.

He was going to die here.

The ghosts showed no signs of stopping. They had no hesitation in their actions, no pity for his plight, no mercy for his life. They were going to kill him, slowly and painfully. It was this thought that scared him most. What kind of a way to die was this? How could he get away? He had no answer, and the sorrow and rage at his torment boiled within him. He couldn't even fight back.

So he screamed.

And they stopped.

He shook his head trying to stop the sudden dizzy spell. What shocked him was the feeling of his own gloved hand against his face as it instinctively came up to brace his wounds. He spent a moment looking at his hands, reveling in his freedom, before he glanced about to inspect his foes. All of them looked to be in worse shape than him- he had no idea why. He'd begun trying to puzzle it out when a voice cried out behind him. "Danny!"

How Raven managed to do so in a monotone, he had no idea.

She floated towards him, continuing on even as a wave of dizziness hit, leading him to catch her. "Um, are you okay?" He asked as he held her shoulders to support her.

The girl shook her head while she felt her forehead with her palm. "I'm pretty sure I've got a concussion… might still be internal bleeding… I can't risk trying heal my head in this condition."

It was then the boy took note of the streak of caked blood in her hair on top of her other injuries. "We need to get you some help…" She flinched away from his touch- him brushing her hair aside to try and get a better look disturbing the now-scabbing wound.

"S-stop… You're not trained to handle this, are you?" She asked, cursing herself for her frailty in stuttering.

He did stop, though. He shook his head sadly and put an arm around her to support her. "You're right… let's find you someone who is… but who could possibly help in a place like thi-"

He was stopped by something causing him some cranial trauma of his own.

As he rubbed his head, cursing loudly, Raven picked the metal boomerang out of the air. "What is this?"

"The boooo-merang?" Danny asked, more to himself than anything, and took it when she offered the thing to him. Tied to it with a blue slip of cloth was a note. "It's one of my parent's inventions." He said as he untied it. "It tracks down any ghost it's locked into, but they couldn't get it to work on any ghost but me. …it's from Jazz?" He read the note to himself before handing it to Raven. "Wisconsin? Well… that's better than nothing. Let's go."

(*)

"…And that's it?" Maddie seemed to hiss after the end of their explanation. They'd had to omit a lot of it, all of which bore those dreadful 'your-son-is-that-ghost-you-hate' details. "And why was Phantom there? I get that he's still evil in the future, but…" She paused as she held her chin to begin puzzling out her quandary.

Sam and Tucker shared nervous glances, both looking over to Jazz and finding her in her own slump at her mother's attitude. Now that they knew that Jazz knew, and didn't feel the same way as her parents… well, maybe they could do something.

It was then that a blue orb of energy appeared, depositing Danny amongst them.

At least, he _looked_ like Danny… So that was the name they all shouted when they tackled him in a group-hug.

"Ack! Gah, get off of me! What are you doing!" The boy shouted.

"You were missing, so we all started looking for you!" His mother said. "Now, are you alright? I heard from Sam and Tucker… that evil Phantom didn't hurt you, did he? Where's Raven?"

Dan would've been touched by the show of affection… if he could have been. "I'm perfectly fine… Not a single scratch on me. And Raven…" his eyes glowed red in rage for only a split second… "…Said that she still had something to do in the future. She didn't tell me what."

"Oh, well… it's just… I was so worried about you!" His mother continued, unabated.

"Mother!" He cried, pushing her away. "I just want to forget what happened. I… want to be alone for now." He added, thinking quickly.

Maddie, unsure of how to react, just nodded dejectedly. Sam and Tucker's eyes followed their friend with worry, but Jazz held a glint of something else in her eyes…

(*)

"I'm still confused as to why one of your arch-nemeses would help us." Raven droned as they came upon a large football. They'd been discussing the boy's enemies on the way, Vladimir Masters in particular.

"Nemesis, singular, and what better choice do we have? Plus, look- it's Vlad. Subtle as a flying mallet." He gestured to the massive football. "We'll be fine."

She gave him a cold, piercing stare that was little different from the way she normally looked.

"I promise." Was his reply to her stare. He pushed the barricade aside and helped her through the portal.

On the other side was a dilapidated laboratory that seemed largely inactive… but not abandoned.

"Come to kick a defenseless old man while he's down?" An old, somewhat weary voice asked.

"Defenseless? Old?" Danny asked, even as he held Raven up by the arm around her shoulders. Her own grip over the back of his neck tightened reflexively, preparing in case a fight broke out. The throne-like chair turned, revealing a thin, bearded, white-haired old man in a tattered black suit. "What happened to _you_?"

The man's eyes widened as he saw his visitors… Danny he was expecting, if older and more violent… but this girl was not. If he remembered correctly, she'd been dead for nearly three years. She looked younger, as well, as did Daniel. "I could ask you the very same question, my boy…" He stated with quirked brow as he pondered this development. "…especially you, my dear." He said, referencing Raven's battered form.

"She's hurt… We fought my future self, but… we need help." Danny said, taking the lead as Raven was in no shape to.

Old, wearied eyes narrowed. "Quite foolish, my boy, to come to one's old enemies in your time of need." He watched them tense, the boy moving in front of the girl protectively, and sighed. "My medical supplies are in another room. Lay her down on the workbench over there." He gestured towards the other side of the room, filled with half-built gadgets and dust, as he grabbed his cane and hobbled away.

The teens looked at each other curiously before they made their way over, Danny clearing a large area and lifting her up onto it. After a moment, they heard the cane tapping along the floor again, and Vlad returned with a rather large case bearing the standard red medical cross.

"You might find it hard to believe…" The man said as he groaned and heave the case onto the worktables. "…but Maddie and I actually met in medical school. Her training to be a nurse, and I a doctor, before I found it wasn't for me, and she suggested her boyfriend Jack's engineering program." His smile grew wistful and his eyes distant. "Ahh, what irony we find in hindsight… all those years that I'd blamed Jack…"

There was a moment of silence, awkward for all save Vlad, before the latches on the case were clicked off and opened. He grabbed a bottle and an abrasive cloth and coated it in the liquid. "This may sting a bit." He said, before he began cleaning away the dried blood.

"Why…" She hissed in pain as the man applied alcohol and antiseptics to her head wound. "…why are you helping us?"

The man stopped, and sighed. "You, my dear, have done me no wrong. I, however, have done much… both to young Daniel, and through him, to the world." They looked at him oddly before he continued his work as he talked. "There was an explosion. Daniel's friends and family were killed. As the only other half-ghost, he eventually came to me for help… as the only one who could understand his pain and loss. It's true he spent some time with the Titans before he came to me, for reasons I know not, but in the end, he wound up on my doorstep. We tried to make it work, to let him forget the pain and work towards a… brighter tomorrow…" There was a dark chuckle there. "But, a month later he asked me to remove his human half. To sever him from his painful emotions… in my foolishness, I complied. I believed that in doing so, I would gain the son I always wanted. After I removed his ghost half with the Ghost Gauntlets, the ghost turned on me, using the same Ghost Gauntlets to rip out _my_ ghost half. The two merged, and his darker side became overwhelmed by my evil. Thus, we… _I…_ created the darkness that enveloped the world."

He finished tying off the bandages he'd wrapped around Raven's head. The silence was stifling.

After a moment, Vlad sighed again. "I won't ask for forgiveness. It's far too late for that. I've had ten years to wallow in hatred and self-pity, to finally see what a fool I'd been." He turned back to Danny, limping over on his cane to set his free hand on his shoulder. "If there is anything I can do to help now, to make amends, Just say it, and it will be so."

He fidgeted from being put on the spot under such an intense gaze, before he began to think. "…do you still have those Ghost Gauntlets?"

Two pairs of eyebrows quirked as their owners eyed him curiously.

He blinked in turn before he continued. "I mean, we're stuck here because of the medallions… Clockwork's time medallions stuck inside us." He gestured at his chest. "But, you could get them out, right?"

Vlad's eyes widened, before he blinked and glanced down. "Send you back to your past…" He stared down at his worn, almost grizzled hands for at least ten seconds, which dragged on as if an eternity. "One moment…" And he hobbled away down the halls, the fall of his cane against the stone floor of his basement bunker echoing back to Raven and Danny.

"Do you think we made the right choice?"

The voice broke Danny from his reverie, and he turned back to look at her. The normal monotone of her voice was tinged with something he couldn't identify. "You feel any better?" She glanced away with a distanced look, before meeting his eyes again and giving a slight nod. "See? He's helping us. I think we can trust him… for what that's worth."

She thought over his words for a moment before nodding again.

The steady clanking signified the return of Vlad, who made his way over to a large cabinet-like door, fiddled with the lock for a moment, and opened it to reveal an anti-ghost weapons locker of sorts. Several familiar devices were there: examples of the Specter Deflector, the Ghost Gauntlets, some apparently salvaged Fenton gadgets, and unidentifiable things of apparently his own creation. There were also weapons… from bulky ecto-cannons to sleek handheld devices, and even a small section of standard munitions and pistols. The man certainly liked his guns.

'_Had to go get a key, I guess…' _Danny thought to himself as he moved to get a better look at all the things in the large closet sized locker.

Raven's eyes narrowed sadly as she hopped down to the floor. The man had been sitting down here, apparently waiting, while a case of weapons was nearby? It wouldn't be locked. Who would he try to keep out of it? He must've needed the walk to clear his head and contemplate unmaking his own past by sending them back in time to change it. The ramifications of tweaking the linear progression of timespace are complicated enough without adding in one's personal demons. She kept these thoughts to herself, though, as she leaned on Danny for support.

After grabbing a few of the things inside, Vlad tossed a dormant Specter Deflector belt, complete with several gadgets and gizmos, to the young half-ghost. Danny gave the belt and its load a quick once-over inventory, and clasped it around his waist. The former halfa trudged out with a second, similar belt, which he handed to Raven. "Be careful with this technology, young Daniel." He said, catching the boy's gaze in a surprisingly harsh and serious stare. "There were many advances in technology between the explosion that claimed your family and friends, and the day the world burned. Your father was an oaf. I was not wrong about that… but he is also a technological savant. To allow someone like him the chance to reverse-engineer some of these devices could throw the world years ahead of its stable technological advancement."

Danny honestly had no idea what he was talking about, but he nodded somewhat fearfully.

"Then why give them to us at all?" Raven asked, distrust in her tone.

"I know him." Vlad countered. "I've studied him, and watched, waiting. I know what he would do when presented with a vision of his past. He would seek to eradicate it. I have little doubt that you will find _my_ Daniel should you return." His voice grew steadily louder and vicious, his rage at the thought of his creation dancing in his eyes. He took a moment to calm himself when he saw he was scaring the children. "If you fight him, you'll need as much help as I can give you. Now…" He slipped on the oversized gauntlets. "Daniel, step forward."

The boy took a tentative step towards the man, letting Raven's arms slip away from him. He took a breath, shored up his mind, and brought up every bit of courage he could muster. The eyes that met Vlad's next were hard and decisive. "Okay. Do it."

The man smiled at seeing the soldier budding within the boy. He would be a great force for good someday, if given the chance… "This will sting. Quite a bit…"

Before he could reply or retort, the man had extended the claws of the gauntlets, and shoved them into the boy's torso. Danny bit back a scream at the pain of having something forcibly torn from him, before he faded into the past.

(*)

Lancer looked down at the Fenton boy with cold eyes. He'd never admit it, but the boy had been a favored student of his. He pushed and pressed the boy to do well and exceed, and he'd seen the boy's marks crawl upward, bit by bit.

Cheating was not something he ever abided, however.

"What were you thinking, Danny? Did you think I wouldn't find the answers in your desk after the test was over? I would rather not have the principal expel you. Please, what was going through your mind that made you turn to cheating?" Though his words were soft, his voice was harsh and unrelenting. Even the boy's parents were eyeing him, wondering what could've come over him.

"What does it matter…?" The boy hissed, about to continue before someone stormed onto the scene.

"That's _NOT_ Danny!" Jazz yelled as she brought the Fenton Peeler to bear on him. The elder Fentons backed away as the beam washed over their son, shredding away the false countenance of the boy they loved. Sam and Tucker stood on either side of her, ecto-blasters drawn.

"What did you do with our son!" Maddie yelled as she and Jack swung large weapons into targeting the hulking figure.

A dark chuckle washed over them as the thing looked up at them. "I _AM_ your son!" He said, grabbing the cannons by the barrel and turning to block the barrage from Sam and Tucker with them. He then dropped them and with a wave of his hand, encased all three of the teens in a glowing green prison of ectoplasm.

He turned, knocking away Jack and Maddie with a wave of energy from where they'd fallen back to in order to regroup and continue the assault. With a grin, he used his powers to pin them and Lancer to the tank of combustible condiments.

"Booya." Was the soft-spoken warning he had before a large metal fist tore through his intangible chest, coming out the other side far too easily and knocking the cybernetic teen off balance. Dan had to admit, Cyborg was surprisingly stealthy given his size and composition. He turned slightly to savor the look of shock on his opponent's face as he grabbed the arm that'd passed through him in both hands and lashed out with a demolishing ecto-enhanced kick under his shoulder.

Cyborg flew backward, crashing and tumbling along the ground until he stopped. The computerized augmentations to his brain were shouting structural warnings into his thoughts as he rose to his knees and brought his arm around to fire his cannon at the ghost.

…only to find said ghost still holding the appendage in question.

His eyes turned with horror down at the stump shooting off sparks, ending halfway between his shoulder and elbow. He glanced back up at his foe to find the man standing inches from him, grinning wickedly down at the young man.

Dan's grin only grew as he caught the boy's awkward punch with his remaining left arm. He grabbed the arm and wrist and bodily flung him into the crowd pasted to the tanks, which now included Sam, Tucker and Jazz. With a flourish, the monstrous ghost bound and chained Cyborg alongside the others.

"I'd forgotten how _fun _this can be…"

(*)

After ripping Clockwork's medallion from Danny, Vlad turned to Raven, his features sunken and depressed as he removed the left ghost gauntlet in favor of having his cane to lean on, after all, with no latent ecto-energy within her, it would be simple to remove her medallion with only one. "I have a favor to ask of you, child…"

She was still tense and guarded around the man, even if he was helping them. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to help…"

"Then consider it repayment for returning you to the past if you must." Vlad's tone was dire now as he glared into her eyes. He could see the threat of not returning settle into her heart, and she nodded. His gaze softened. "First you may need to know why I ask this of you. You know from what was said earlier that it was I who parted Daniel with his ghost half. This led to the pivotal moment that caused the destruction of the world… when he separated _me_ from _my_ inner ghost, and merged with it. _That _is what led to the destruction of the world: Our merged evils with no conscience to guide them."

She nodded along. The thought was terrifying, chilling her to her very bones.

"But… we must go back further. Ever since I learned of him, I was obsessed with molding the only other half-ghost into my own perfect son. To this end, I took control of the very information within his town. I censored all knowledge I thought would lead him to seek out the other heroes for aid, and all outgoing knowledge that could lead them to him."

His pointed stare caught her widening eyes. "It was _you_…" Her jaw snapped shut at her unintended outburst. His eyebrow quirked in question, but he gave her a moment to collect her thoughts. Shaking her head lightly, she continued. "Robin was investigating the invasion of Pariah Dark, which had become global news, but because the information didn't add up, he sent me and Cyborg to Amity Park to investigate."

He smiled. It was a small, morbid smile, but it was there. "So I did one good thing, even back then. I brought you to him. And now, I can ask you this favor." He gave dramatic pause. "You must keep Daniel Fenton away from Vlad Masters at all cost." Her brow furrowed slightly as his words sunk in, but he gave her no time to interject. "Take him with you to Jump City if need be. I am sure a solution can be found to Amity Park's ghost problem that will enable his departure. _He_ _must not be my son. _Keep him whole, both human and ghost, and this terrible future cannot come to pass." He leaned forward, his cane creaking as he met her eye-to-eye. "Can I trust you to keep him whole, young Raven?"

She nodded, her violet eyes set and determined.

"Good." He said, extending the claws on his gauntlet. "Now go save the world."

(*)

Dan tapped his foot in midair as he floated above the Nasty Burger, his fingers drumming a staccato beat on his forearm as they lay crossed over his chest. "Any minute now… any moment… any at all…" He glared down at the humans blinking up at him for another second before he sighed and held his palm out towards them and growled, "I'm starting to wonder why I can't just _blow you up myself_."

And then a fist collided with his face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Floating above him, focused entirely on the captives, was his younger self. He groaned.

"This… could take a lot of explaining." Danny said to the bound group. "But I promise, I'm never going to be like him!" Danny swore emphatically as he floated beside his friends, family… and Lancer. "I suppose this explains my chronic tardiness, huh?"

"Oh _give it a rest_ would you?" The elder ghost rumbled, knocking the boy from the air with a wave of green energy. "I think I'm starting to make myself sick."

Danny took a moment to regroup as he lay there on the ground- glad he'd been able to put up most of a shield before the blow struck. He had to plan his moves… had to time things just right. If he could get his older self away from his family-

A swift kick to the ribs broke his train of thought, launching him across the block. He tumbled for a bit before landing against the side of a brick building. "No more quirky quips?" Dan asked as he stalked over to stand above him. "I thought not." He brought his fist down, hard.

And hit only brick. Suddenly a wave of pain flowed through him like electricity, locking up his muscles and joints. "Forgot all about the Specter Deflector, didn't you?" The boy asked, before punting his enemy across the street… and into an oil tanker parked there.

The unintended consequence of this act wound up being a fireball of blue flame engulfing the ghost, and the area nearby.

With a wave of his hand, the flames parted in front of Dan. The scowl on his face only deepened as he saw his younger self standing there. His fury unquenchable, he shot toward the boy, who pulled out a small cylindrical object and ducked, leaving it in midair to deploy and latch around Dan's form with nine strong cables, each tipped in a latching mechanism that looked oddly like Vlad's head.

The thing only caught him partially, but gave his younger self time to flee and regroup as he ripped it apart with his free arm. Suddenly there were three more of him standing beside him, each dodging or blocking blasts from the young teen, who seemed to be throwing them out as fast as he could trying to keep him off balance.

As his clones kept Danny occupied, he flew up behind the boy, who turned his hand, upon which was an odd glove, toward him. The open palm emitted a red barrier before his fist slammed into it.

'_A portable Ghost Shield generator?' _Dan thought angrily, before noting that while he held off the original, he was still firing off blasts at his clones. The shield only covered a half-sphere. He grinned. '_It's not even complete yet, is it?'_

Dan began a flurry of punches and kicks with glowing fists and feet, cracking and shattering the barrier after a moment with his barrage of blows. Danny was thrown back into the clones from the force of it, which earned him several kicks and punches from the doppelgangers. They then kicked as one, downward, smashing the boy into the ground.

"You can't win Danny. No matter what you do, I'm stronger, faster, _better_ than you. Just give up and give in."

The explosion rocked the entire city. Dan was nearly knocked from his feet by the trembling of the earth beneath him. He grinned his wicked grin. "You might as well, now… the only thing you had to live heroically for is dead and gone."

He looked up, horrorstruck at the words. He felt the blast. He heard it. It came from where they were!

_Not possible… it can't be…_

"Give in. You know you have no choice, now."

_I can't, I won't. Not now, not ever. They can't be gone… they can't be dead!_

"NOOOO_OOOOOO**OOOOO!**_" He cried, his cry warping into a ghastly sound as his anguish fueled the Wail. The waves of energy washed over the town as cracks and fissures formed spider-web patterns along the buildings and road. The blast blew over Dan like the wall of kinetic energy it was, picking him up and flinging him into a building, causing the structure to collapse.

From the rubble he pulled himself, battered as he was, to look at the boy with confusion and fear. "That power… It can't be… I don't get that power for another ten yea-"

His words were cut off by a painful knee thrust under his chin, knocking him into the air. As he tried to get a bead on the boy, a fist smashed into his face, then his ribs and stomach, followed by another uppercut and kicks that kept him from forming a coherent battle plan to put himself back on the offensive. As it was, he couldn't even defend himself. The blows that rained down were stronger and faster than anything the boy had shown previously.

Such was the power of his rage.

Dan was knocked around, then smashed into the ground with a powerful kick that cratered the road around him. He found the boy hunched over him, rage and sorrow melding on his face as he took a deep breath.

And straight down into the crater, point blank, he wailed.

Windows shattered. Asphalt cracked. Concrete buckled. Mortar crumbled. The whole block was decimated in the blast wave that radiated from the roar of the wail.

Danny, his energy entirely spent, changed back to his human form as he stood over his evil future self. The monster groaned before falling limp, unconscious.

He'd done it.

He won.

But the victory was hollow to him. It didn't matter. So what if he'd beaten the villain? His friends and family were all…

He cringed as the tears began to fall, choking on his breath as he brought the thermos down to imprison his foe. He had to be strong now. For them.

He cried. The tears welled up and fell without end, but he wouldn't let himself whimper or wail. He couldn't… not now.

His feet hung heavily, as if he wore shoes of lead as he made his way back to the source of the explosion. He wouldn't believe it until he saw it with his own eyes.

The pillar of smoke was huge. He was sure the plume could be seen for hundreds of miles. It was easy enough to follow, even if he couldn't remember the way to the ruins of the Nasty Burger. When he made it there, he was surprised anything was left standing. The building wasn't a crater… it was just a smoldering husk of what it had been. Most of the concussive force must have been pushed upward, rather than out and around, but that was of no moment to Danny. He hadn't found them. Most of the buildings around were heavily damaged as well. He felt his strength leave him, and he fell to his knees.

They were gone.

"You know, it's times like these I'm glad I can't feel my extremities." The young but deep voice coughed out satirically.

Danny turned his head to see figures past a nearby alleyway. The ground they stood upon was almost clean, without cracks or the sooty residue of the explosion. Again, this was of no moment. He had to see. He had to find out…

"Is everyone okay?" A cold monotone asked as he came closer.

They were there. All of them. Three Fentons, Sam, Tucker, Lancer… even Cyborg and…

_Raven_

She saved them. While he was off fighting, she must've freed them and shielded them from the blast.

He ran up to them. His thoughts were a jumble of joy and relief, excitement that they survived, and confusion that he just didn't have time for at the moment. There only seemed to be one person in the world at the moment. He almost caught her by surprise as she turned when she heard him coming.

Raven _was_ surprised when she was wrapped up in a hug, having a thousand 'thank you's thrown at her at once. He lifted her off the ground, twirled her around, and when he set her down, he did the only thing he thought could properly express how thankful he was that she saved his friends and family.

He kissed her.

When their lips parted, both were oblivious to all the world save the one in front of them. Danny was still too overjoyed to care about anything but how happy he was, but Raven…

She was shocked. Not only that he'd kissed her, but how _nice _it felt when he did. It was forceful, but only as far as youthful impulsiveness let him be. He held her tight, and she in turn put her arms around him. The tenderness of the kiss after its impetuous start was…

It nearly melted her in his arms.

They stared at each other for a long moment, even as the onlookers watched.

Jazz was smirking, wondering what might happen next… her parents were both eyeing Danny warily, their instincts as ghost hunters warring with their parental love for their son. Maddie also partly wanted to scream out an 'I told you so!' and hug the two teens who had yet to part.

Cyborg was openly gawking at the two. Lancer was trying to come to terms with what had just happened, and what was happening. Tucker was inwardly cheering for his best friend, even though he knew this would come back to bite them both in the ass. And Sam…

…Sam was a beacon of pain and jealousy, watching her new friend as she kissed and held her crush. She'd never thought of Danny as anything but hers… and maybe Tucker's, but not in a romantic sense… much as she tried to deny it, even to herself. But now, she just felt hollow. The pain of having someone ripped out of your heart, and the jealousy at the one who did it…

She knew it would be better not to be hurt or jealous… and let the hollowness consume her.

"I won." Danny said cheerfully, smiling as bright as the sun.

And then the world around them stilled.

Both of them glanced at the others, all of them still as statues. The world around them had halted. The smoke didn't rise, the dust didn't settle… the air was stuffy and thick…

They looked down at each other's, and their own, chests. Both wore a stylized cog-like medallion around their necks.

Danny took his medallion in hand as he and Raven finally parted from their embrace. "You know, I never actually believed that kissing could stop time…"

A deep and hearty chuckle echoed over them. "That all depends…"

"Clockwork." Danny and Raven both said at once as they turned toward the infant ghost. Danny took up a halfhearted fighting stance, knowing his energy was spent. Raven barely moved.

"Now now, I'm not here for a fight. I wouldn't have given you those if I had." He indicated the gears around their necks, and Raven nodded.

Danny's stance faltered. "Then why _are _you here?"

A smile on blue lips. "To congratulate you on your victory, amend a temporal anomaly… and to give a warning."

"A warning?" Danny asked with narrowed eyes.

"That comes last…" The ghost of time, now middle-aged, stated. "First, you did well. Had I not known you would prevail over him, I would be quite surprised. It is an amazing accomplishment." Danny took the praise with a grain of salt. "Second, the ghost within that thermos…" He pointed at Danny's hip, where Dan's cage was clasped. "…should not exist in this timeframe. I intend to take him off your hands and make sure he remains locked within it for the rest of time."

"You fought us knowing we could never win, in order to spur us into the succeeding events." Raven summarized.

The ghost, then an old man, gave a toothy smile. "Yes. And now, the warning… remember your promise." The ghost floated closer, leaning forward to emphasize his pointed stare. "Should you forget the promise you made today, the world as you know it may end."

Both teens swallowed thickly as the ghost continued to stare at them, until he nodded.

"The thermos?" The ghost held out his hand. Danny unclasped it, gave it one last long look, and placed it in the outstretched hand.

The ghost floated away, until he paused. "Remember your promise." He reiterated as he pressed the button on his staff and disappeared in a swirl of clock hands. "Time in."

Both looked down, and saw their medallions were gone. They heard the flaming ruins of the Nasty Burger as it crackled… the mutterings of those behind them… the wind as it rustled along…

…and both swore, no matter what, they would never break the promise they'd made.

* * *

First off, something that never made sense to me. We all know Maddie is competent (for an adult Fenton) and even a considerable genius and master martial artist. What has never made sense is that, despite that, _she always defers to Jack._ In every major situation, she seems to ask Jack what to do, or has him take the lead. Why would she do that if Jack had never shown some competence in leadership?

The man may be incredibly silly, but I bet when his family's in danger, he shapes up pretty damn fast.

I would also like to point out that Raven does not, in any way, have a ghost sense. It was noted by my beta that readers might think she did when I described her being cold (and the fact that the human characters in the series never mention any discomfort while in the Ghost Zone) I have since edited the chapter to dissuade this idea, but some people may still think so. She doesn't. It's all in her heavily concussed head. Also- I love the word 'concussed'. My apologies if it was overused.

I know that inter-cranial trauma is a big deal, and not something to joke around about, but come on- _she promised not to go all damsel in distress on him!_... okay, stopping with the funnyman routine. It's a big deal and I could use it as a plot device. It's a serious medical thing though, and if you get knocked on the head at all, get it checked out immediately. Getting knocked out for several minutes is also unrealistic. If you're unconscious after a blow to the head for more than a minute or two, you need to get it looked at or you're probably going to die. That's one Hollywood myth I'm not really fond of- that you can just knock someone out for half an hour and then they're fine. Doesn't work that way.

Cyborg's arm- I have no idea if he's right or left handed. I can't remember which arm always turned into the cannon, so I'm just defaulting to it being his right. I really don't know, but does it make that much of a difference?

Clockwork's scene at the end- No, I'm not unmaking the reveal that Danny is Phantom. They have to deal with it. Also, and this is very important- Both Danny and Raven made promises recently. Raven to keep Danny from turning into Dan (By keeping him away from Vlad) and Danny, to never be like Dan. _Both of them thought Clockwork was talking to them._ This was what Clockwork intended.

Next up, Chapter 6:

_ectoBiology_


	6. ectoBiology

Sorry about this one taking YEARS to write, but… I just **_did not want to write this_**. Writing is fun and recreational for me, and when something isn't fun to write anymore, I tend to _stop writing it_. That's what happened with my Naruto fics. I lost all motivation to write anything Naruto-related with what Kishi started pulling in the canon manga (which I also stopped reading) and have yet to rekindle the fire enough to rewrite them, because honestly re-reading them… a lot of it is fucking stupid shit I can't feel good about continuing without changing it first. Anyway, most of you probably don't care about those fics, being Danny Phantom and Teen Titans fans.

I wrote the first few chapters of this knowing the Dan fights were coming up, and now that they're over… that excitement's dwindled a lot. It'll pick up the closer we get to the next big story point, though… but _getting there_ is the hard part. This chapter just _did not want to be written_ and fought me almost every step of the way. I'm incredibly sorry it took so long, but I'm also glad it's over with.

Another reason I took so long to get this out is because honestly… last chapter was a _great_ point to stop at for a while. It was the end of the first story arc, and had fairly good closure on everything. I _didn't feel terrible_ leaving it there. And that neutrality in leaving it combined with how little I wanted to write this chapter is why it took so long. Also college. How the _fuck_ did I fail _three writing classes_!? (Technical writing fucking sucks) And I switched my major from artsy computer graphics (I'm a terrible artist, so half that profession was a terrible choice for me) to computer science.

At any rate, this is getting pretty long…

Back to your normally scheduled author's notes.

If you know what I named this chapter after just by looking at it, you win the internet.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Danny and friends are 14, almost 15, while Jazz is 17-18, yes? If not, we'll just say she's almost there.

If I get the layout of the Fenton home wrong, just ignore it. I can't remember every little detail about it, so I'm just making it up. If you feel the need to correct me, go ahead—just remember I'm not changing it.

And now, without further ado,

Chapter 6 - _ectoBiology_

_NOTE: _I got impatient waiting for my beta to read this and get back to me, since it's been done for two days already. I'll re-post a cleaned up version within the next week, but I've got finals I procrastinated studying for to finish this, so... yeah. Enjoy it, wouldja?

_EDIT: _I changed up one scene, adding a couple lines because a reviewer noted, quite rightly, that one of the scenes seemed a little creepier than I intended, but I didn't think much on it since it was a part I'd written more than a year ago and just wanted to get this done and out. I hope this fixes it up to the point where my initial intent with the scene now gets across more clearly.

* * *

The remainder of the night could arguably have been called a clean-up phase. Those that had been there left for the hospital as quickly as they could manage, especially after Danny collapsed from exhaustion. Mr. Lancer was recovering from shock, and not of much help either. In fact, with Cyborg's arm still damaged most of the work in evacuating the wounded to receive medical aid was done by the elder Fentons.

Let it not be said that Jack can't move like a greased leapord when duly motivated. He'd gone for help while Maddie stayed to patch up the kids and Jazz called for an ambulance. Surprisingly, she'd worked part-time as a paramedic to put herself through college for her engineering degree. A job she didn't mind at all; helping people and learning skills that came in handy in emergencies like this, not to mention patching up her kids' childhood scrapes. Those that knew them in passing would have been shocked at the efficiency with which they worked, even convincing Lancer to help manage the makeshift bucket brigade Jack was rounding up to manage the fires and collateral damage until the fire department could get there.

With Cyborg disarmed, he wasn't able to do much besides following Maddie's sharp orders, like 'put pressure here' or 'hand me that gauze'. The younger teens mostly just watched stoically as she'd bandaged up Raven and then Danny, before moving on auto-pilot to check Sam and Tucker for anything bleeding or broken.

It didn't take long though, before the fire crews and ambulance arrived. The emergency crews of Amity Park were a well-oiled machine after all the fallout the town had seen from its ghost attacks. With the others fairly stable, Raven was carted into the vehicle- sharing one last long look with Danny before the doors shut to ferry her and Maddie to the hospital.

Raven's state was bordering on dire. A moderate concussion, several bruises, cracked ribs and a formerly punctured lung, but none of it stopped her from noticing the way the Fenton Matriarch had fallen morose and even sullen after the adrenaline started to wear down. With the pleasant auto-pilot of an emergency situation stripped away, all that was left was time to think as they made their way back to the hospital. The teen knew exactly what must have been going through her mind then… The woman's hated enemy and beloved son were the same young man, and she was struggling to reconcile with this fact.

The young Titan nudged her hand into Maddie's knee to get her attention, before they shared a look and she said, "It doesn't matter what he is. He never stopped being who he is. You acting like this, doubting him… it just gives justification to him hiding it from you. Trust him. He's still your son."

The rest of the short trip was silent, save for the sirens overhead.

(*)

Maddie had barely left the hospital since the previous night. She'd showered there at the hospital, and Jack had brought her a fresh hazmat suit and underclothes. Then they just talked about what'd happened until Jack left to finish helping with Cyborg's repairs and generally lighten the mood back at the house.

Amity Park's one hospital wasn't the biggest, nor smallest example thereof that Maddie had come across in her days, but it was a good one. It'd have to be for her to accept her kids receiving treatment from them. She smiled to herself, not being able to resist the urge to think of Raven and Cyborg in some motherly capacity. They seemed so _young_ to be heroes… then again, Danny did too. Her smile faltered at that thought. Her son was a _hero_. A half-ghost _super hero…_ she knew she'd have to face the reality of it at some point. With a sigh, she opened the door to Raven's hospital room, which brought a smile to her face, seeing the stoic teen so uncomfortable half-tucked-in and wearing a medical smock.

She followed Raven's eyes to the stack of neatly laundered cloth in Maddie's hands. She honestly didn't remember when she'd picked up the titan's things. "Here." She said. The girl started getting out of bed, but faltered as she tried to reach the floor. "You need help?" Her aid was rendered moot as the teen simply floated up out of the bed and down to the floor. It brought a wide grin to the Fenton matron's face. "Ha. A week ago I would've called you a ghost and tried to catch you for a stunt like that."

This caused the younger woman to raise an eyebrow as she gave the redhead an incredulous stare.

Maddie shrugged. "World-changing events tend to have that effect." She said, nodding her head toward the bathroom and walking in. The rest of the room's beds were empty, but this made for added privacy. Raven had no recourse but to follow.

When they were both inside, the elder woman shut the door and handed Raven her leotard, but kept the belt and cloak. Raven's scowl deepened marginally. Their eyes met, and she could see the smirk in those purple eyes. She didn't need to feel the woman's emotions to know she wouldn't be allowed to change alone. What was it with Fentons and embarrassing her?

"You're not leaving?" The young Titan ground out.

"Not when you were hurt enough that a normal girl would've been in intensive care for a week." The woman started, before her tone turned chipper. "Your legs could give out and then you'd smack your head on the sink or something, and no one wants that."

With a sigh and a grumble, Raven turned around and undid the smock, letting it fall to the floor as she fit herself into her clothes.

Maddie had to admit, she was impressed. She didn't expect the girl's physique to be as well off as she saw. And not a single scar or tan line on that ash-gray skin, despite what she knew to be the younger woman's choice of outfit. It all really made her wonder… "How old are you?" She blurted quietly.

Raven tensed as she slipped the tight suit over her arms. After hesitating a moment, she replied. "Sixteen."

_Right between Jazz and Danny…_ Maddie mused as she handed the girl her belt. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say anything. I thought you'd be a little older." Her grin grew catty. "I can see why you wear the cloak. You'd have all the boys back home up a wall otherwise."

The fact that she was turned away didn't stop the woman from picking up on her blush. She wasn't used to being complimented- especially about her _body_.

Maddie, of course, thought it was _adorable_ how _shy_ Raven was, when most girls her age would be flaunting a body like hers for all the world to see… within modest reason, of course. She placed the young woman's cloak over her shoulders, using the motion to position her hands in a comforting gesture. "You've never had a boyfriend before, have you?"

Raven tensed under the woman's hands, taking a moment to contemplate her words, or if she'd answer at all. "There was… once…" After a deep sigh that shook her to her core, she continued. "He was just using me."

With a swift but gentle movement honed from nearly two decades of motherhood, Maddie shifted her arms around the girl in a comforting embrace. "He hurt you, didn't he?" She asked.

The girl felt her eyes moisten, which honestly alarmed her somewhat. All she could bring herself to do was let herself be held and nod into the woman's bosom. She felt the arms encircling her tighten and hands rubbing her back in soothing motions.

"It's okay."

And with that, the young woman started to sniffle.

The floodgates now opened, the girl couldn't help but sob into the older woman's chest as the seconds bore unto minutes. Tears soaked into the blue fabric as much as the water-resistant outer layer of the combat-ready hazmat suit would allow.

When the girl was done, and the awkward silence between crying and ending the hug to finish the last few steps of dressing had passed, Raven cleared her throat and softly intoned, "No one will ever hear of this. Ever."

Maddie could only chuckle.

…she still had to make sure the girl'd had 'The Talk' before letting her loose with Danny, after all.

**_Meanwhile at the Fenton Residence-_**

And so it was that she left Cyborg in charge of breakfast in the morning after his many proclamations of success in breakfasts at the tower, which led to a thankfully ghost-equipment-free meal preparation.

"It's so much better when I don't need to kill my food before I eat it." The youngest Fenton said as he stuffed a sizable forking of pancakes into his mouth.

"You've said that six times already." Cyborg called from the kitchen, where he was busily making more food in the hopes that some might survive the whirlwind vacuum that was Jack for his teammate and Mrs. Fenton.

"Doesn't make it any less true." was the boy's retort.

Tucker ceased his antics stealing most of the bacon and sausage long enough to add his own thoughts. "I've eaten over here loads of times. Trust me, it's worth noting."

Sam nodded as she finished her pancakes. "Strange things happen every time I've been here for a meal too." The pair had made it over as soon as they could that morning, not wanting to miss Raven's return.

"No offense, but I'll be glad my food will stop trying to eat me when I go off to college…" Jazz added.

Jack seemed completely unperturbed by the statement. He did, however, perk up along with everyone else at the sound of the door opening.

Maddie -hood down and goggles off, showing the bright red hair her daughter had inherited- was holding open the door. Then they all caught sight of Raven, cloak fluttering as it covered everything but her head. Her hair was combed over the bandages that covered her forehead and scalp, acting as a completely unnecessary hairband, while her eye twitched ominously. For obvious reasons, this drew far more attention than the blush currently adorning her cheeks. "We will never. Speak of this. Again." The teen stated.

It was this scene that Cyborg walked in on, wearing a borrowed apron and carrying a large platter of pancakes and plates piled with eggs, bacon and sausage. "Rae…?" He toned calmly as he set down his bounty, his eyebrow rising. "Your eye is twitching again. Things tend to explode when that happens…"

"It will _never…_ be spoken of again. Ever." She stated again as she seated herself between Sam and Jazz. She then began piling food onto her plate and proceeded to ignore the world.

Maddie closed the door with a dulcet chuckle, before sitting down next to her husband as everyone either started or finished breakfast.

(*)

After their meal, they all found seats in the living room, except for Maddie and Raven, who remained standing. Jack and Jazz were both sitting in the chairs, while the other Amity teens took the couch. The patron of the family occasionally shot sidelong glances at his son, still reeling from the blow to his worldview, now that food wasn't at the fore of his mind. Cyborg wound up pulling a chair from the dining room to sit in, backward—his arms crossed on top of the chair's back.

"Now then…" Maddie started. "According to what I've heard from Cyborg as compared to our own findings and paranormal knowledge base, I think I can sum up most of the discrepancies without dallying too long on matters that would just be restated."

Raven nodded, shrouded in her cloak sans hood while leaning against the wall. The matron was leaned over consulting the spines of a small shelf of books. After selecting a title and bringing it over to the girl. Violet eyes widened slightly at the title.

'_Ectobiology: A scientific study of the paranormal'_

There was a rather long secondary title she didn't bother to read before looking back to the older woman.

"You can keep it if you like." Maddie said softly. "I've already memorized it, and Jack always asks me anyway."

The titan could only nod. A book in their study was a very meaningful gift between scholars.

"Ghosts are complicated things." The woman stated. "Even we don't know everything about them, which is why me and Jack have always been trying to catch ghosts to expe-…" The woman coughed, her cheeks flushing a bit, as she glanced at her son. "Erm, anyway…"

Danny could only glower at the subject and the shift away from it. Sure, he didn't like thinking about what his parents might've done if they'd actually _caught_ him in phantom-mode, but it wasn't like he couldn't handle talking about it… he thought so, anyway.

"Ghosts can be summed up as- _something charged by or merged with ectoplasm._ That's as basic as it gets." She said after she'd gotten over her flustered state. "One could argue that Danny isn't a half-ghost as much as a ghost with a human form, by this definition." Several gawking faces met her words. "I know, I know. That's just the most basic definition, though. A more advanced definition is 'A spirit, specter, phantasm or formerly living entity or parts thereof that have been merged or charged with ectoplasmic energy, thus given a tangible form." Now the audience, save Jack, seemed oddly nonplussed. "It's not like we've had a ghost to talk to about this, before. Lighten up."

The awkward silence continued, Jack still turning concerned eyes to his son occasionally before jumping to his feet. "I think that's enough talk about ghosts for now." Everyone who knew the man, which now included Cyborg, gaped openly at his words. "Maddie, we need fudge."

It took her a moment to realize this was her husband's attempt at diffusing the situation, turning her despondently furrowed brow and affronted scowl into a well-hidden smirk that still reached her eyes. "Well fine, Jack. Just this once, we'll ignore ghosts for fudge." The kids turned their gawking to her at this. She shrugged. "Any questions?" She directed at Raven.

The girl was already leaned over the book, her eyes devouring the preface and table of contents as she shook her head.

"Well okay then… Jack?"

"Wait!" Her daughter shot up. "I'll go with you."

"Really, Jazz?" Her mother asked, somewhat shocked.

Her husband, on the other hand, was thrilled. "YESSS! Finally she understands the wonders of FUDGE!" The man notably hesitated before turning to his son. "DANNY! Want to come with and make it a proper family outing?"

The boy gave a sheepish smile and replied, "Nah dad, I think I just want to hang out with my friends for a bit…"

"Well, okay then." The man replied, before grasping the arms of his family's female members and gleefully sprinting to the garage.

"I sometimes wonder how I'm related to him." Danny remarked.

Sam shrugged with a grin, poking him in his side. "As long as you don't start blowing up like a balloon when you hit sixteen, I wouldn't worry about it."

"SAM!" He gasped with obviously false horror. "Not that subject again! The nightmares, they'll come back! Never again…"

The girl laughed at his plight. "I forgot our group is an odd one, for once the girl isn't the one worried about getting fat."

"Not fat, just big boned." He added snappishly, remarkably like his father.

"Don't think you've got to worry too much then, dude." Tucker shot over their female compatriot. "You're about the smallest-boned guy ever."

Eyes were rolled before Cyborg cut in. "Uhh… any idea what to do now?"

"Horror movie marathon?" The automatic answer had to be said.

The Titan's human eye fell squarely on his teammate as she met his gaze with a cold, half-lidded _stare_.

"Uhh… pass." He said quickly.

"Could always use a fourth player for Doomed." Tucker suggested.

The cyber-titan's grin was almost feral, and somewhat unsettling. "I've heard of that. You ready to get your asses handed to ya?"

"What makes you so sure you're going to win?" Sam shot back with a grin of her own.

Cyborg stretched as he smirked, following them up to Danny's room to play. "I should totally tell you guys about the time I whooped a game-obsessed super-villain's ass and he tracked us down for revenge for bein' a poor sport and _horrible _loser."

Raven could only smirk behind her book as the rest of them made tracks upstairs.

(*)

Jazz and Maddie followed Jack as he gleefully made his way through the town's premier sweets shop, one mulling on her thoughts and the other trying to reign in her husband.

It was five minutes after they'd arrived that Jazz stopped and firmly stated "Mom, Dad… we need to talk."

Both parents stopped and looked at her, Jack using this distraction to slip another box of fudge into his cart before his full attention fell onto his daughter.

The girl couldn't help but fidget under her parent's scrutiny before she firmed her resolve to continue, having made sure there weren't any other patrons in earshot. "I think… it might be best if Danny went with the Titans to Jump City for a while." She had to halt their replies with a hand before she elaborated. "We've all learned things recently that've been major shifts to our worldview. Danny with his whole future self business and you two with…" She noticed someone else passing by. "…what he'd been hiding from you. I think it'd be best if we all let things settle before…" She struggled a little to think of a proper wording. "Before we try to force normality on a situation that isn't normal at all, and make things worse."

Both parents shared a worried look at that moment, emotions playing over their features in ways that told their daughter exactly what they'd been thinking… and that she'd been right.

Luckily, the small Swedish-style chocolate and candy store was almost entirely empty, save for the clerk in the back rooms whose family owned the shop. Maddie stepped toward her daughter and grasped her lightly around the shoulders in a semblance of a hug, her eyes tearing up. "I'm sorry, Jazz. I know you're right. This is just… He's _Phantom_, but he's _my Danny_!" She pulled Jazz in for a tight hug, then, before sniffling away her tears. "You're right. We need some time, I think…" She pulled away from her daughter and turned back to her husband. "…Jack?"

The man was unusually silent, his face stern. Jazz could count on one hand the number of times she'd seen her father like this. The man really was brilliant as much as she'd like to deny it, and when he put his mind toward something other than ghosts and fudge, it was actually somewhat intimidating.

"He's my Dan-o. But he's Phantom. You're right, Jazz. I have no idea what to think of him right now." The man shook his head sadly. "Could you look after him? You're almost old enough to be out on your own anyway… and you understand what he's going through a lot better than we do. He needs you a whole lot more than he needs us, right now."

The two Fenton women were surprised by his words… they made sense, but… "I'll look out for him until I head off to college in a few months. More than enough time to make sure he settles in…" it went unsaid that being a part of a superhero team was probably much safer than going practically solo, even if he had sidekicks.

"Well then…" Maddie started after a moment. "Let's get home and see what Danny thinks of the idea."

* * *

I know I'm starting to make Raven seem like a crybaby, but… it's kind of intentional. Let's be honest here, she has a _fuckton_ of emotional baggage. Her father is some super-demon (I'm pretty sure he's some sort of evil dark god, but my beta says he's just a trans-dimensional reality-warping neigh-omnipotent arch-demon thing. … Yeah) she spent the first _sixteen years_ of her life thinking she was going to end the world, and I assume it was only some azarathian moral code that kept her from _killing herself to prevent it_, added into the fact that people with world-ending prophecies tend to be ostracized by their peers, and the hinting that her mother never loved her and _never bothered to try and hide it_… she's got some right to be a tad screwed up in the head.

Sometimes you just need a good cry to help you through things, and sometimes a good cry just isn't enough. We'll see. Definitely haven't seen the last of her issues, though.

Before I start getting yelled at about 'a mother's love' and all that, Yes. Her mother cared about her. Her mother worried about her. Her mother did try to help her. But, did she actually do it out of love, or an instinctual obligation to her own flesh? I got the impression that she was just as scared _of _Raven as she was _for_ Raven. That's just my take on it, and you don't have to like it. I'm probably making too big a deal about this anyway.

On to other topics.

I'm a little fuzzy on the details, it's been years since I've seen that episode, but did Raven and Malchior ever actually kiss? If so, then I'm right, and if not, who cares. Pretty sure they did share one romantic kiss right before she broke the bindings on the book and then he was all:  
_MWAAHAHAHAHA! FOOOOOLISH SAMURAAA-_ erm, I mean…

ANYWAY-

The Fenton Hazmat Suits. Pretty sure that doesn't need to be all caps, but Jack would disagree with me. I looked up info on real hazmat suits, just enough to realize that my ideas of what they wore were quite different than the actual suits. Thus, I explain… The Fentons are ghost hunters. As hunters of things (of a paranormal nature) their suits would probably need to be stronger than normal. I assume they just… _make their own_. What I thought of was a single piece (aside from gloves, boots, and headgear) that was made up of layers that've been fused together. The inner layer would, of course, be a comfort layer—keeping the skin from _dying _due to oxygen deprivation or chafing or any number of other problems that come with wearing something skintight and, if not airtight, then at least _watertight_ over you almost constantly . …Because while most suits don't seem that way, the Fenton ones certainly do look pretty skintight (on Maddie, at least). Above that is the actual protective layer that is watertight, or possibly airtight, as is the point of a hazmat suit in the first place- to avoid contamination from hazardous materials. And above _that_, is another layer of strong rip-and-tear resistant fiber over-weave. This is the layer that things can actually stick and possibly soak into, that was referenced in the scene between Maddie and Raven.

ALSO- is it just me, or do you think Role Playing and Action games just wouldn't be as popular in a world with superheroes and peril around every city block? It makes sense that there'd still be sports games and some FPS-style stuff, but I think the Action/Adventure/RPG type stuff might hit too close to home in some cases, getting the "That was ME last week" kind of reaction when you blow up a building and see a bystander on the sidewalk nearby. FANTASY games might be in good swing, but I just don't see any of the characters liking that, except maybe Sam, and she seems to play video games more to hang out with the guys than just for recreation. Kind of why I play WoW. The game's fun, but I stay for the other people that play it, not just because it's fun.

Wow… wall o' notes thar.

Anywhut, I hope everyone likes this, and forgives me for being away for so long.


	7. Loose Ends

There was some confusion about one of the scenes between Maddie and Raven last chapter, and I added in a few lines to try to make it seem clearer. My intent with that Raven was still hurt in the hospital, and Maddie knew it, so she was there to help Raven into her things if need be, and also make sure that she didn't have an aneurism or slip or anything while she was in there. She ALSO knew that Raven was a private person; introverted and shy, and she was trying to get her to open up a bit more.

And Raven's been going through a lot lately. Like I said, she's got a lot of unresolved issues and sometimes those just smash you down when you least expect it and you start crying.

Anyway, I'm glad so many people liked the last chapter, and I'm glad everyone's been so supportive now that I'm writing again.

Unlike chapter 6, which was partially beta'd before I started writing again, this one is entirely unbeta'd. Dude just doesn't want to read my stuff after I wait two years to send him anything, I guess. : |

But yeah. New chapter.

So, Chapter 7- _Loose Ends_

* * *

True to his prior boasting, the titan's cybernetic augmentation to his reflexes and naturally high intellect were more than a match for the teens. Now the boys were all playing a two-on-one game while Sam sat on Danny's bed in a stereotypical meditation pose.

"You really think you can learn magic?" Danny asked offhandedly.

"It's entirely possible." Was Sam's curt reply.

"Well, that's cool…" Truly it was a conversation for the ages. Still, Danny was trying to keep her involved while Cyborg kicked their asses. But since that wasn't working, he changed tactics. "So Cy, what's the rest of your team like?"

The big teen chuckled. "You're not throwin' me off my game _that_ easy, Fenton. But a'ight… Robin's the leader. He's got all the hero experience from training under Batman for years… lots of martial arts, no superpowers at all. None of us really know much else about him, but he's a good leader. Bit of a stickler though. Beast Boy's who I usually play games with, and he's a shape-shifter. Can turn into any animal he wants to be. Really fun guy, but he's the youngest and most hot-headed. Starfire's the other girl besides Raven, and she's an alien." He paused for all the ooh's and ahhs and kept talking before they could actually get into asking any questions yet. "She can fly, has super-strength, she can take a hit better than I can, and I'm made of _metal_, so that's saying something… actually that describes a lot of alien superheroes, now that I think about it… _anyway_, glowing eye beams and throws energy bolts. She's pretty scary in a fight."

"Aliens!? Holy shit…" Danny fumbled over his words a bit before something occurred to him. "We still have no idea why we don't know about all this, do we? Amity's pretty far out of the way, but it's not _that_ far into the middle of nowhere…"

Cyborg hummed to himself in thought. "That's one of the things we'll be checking out when we get back to Jump. It's almost like a two-way media blackout, but that doesn't seem quite right."

Tucker groaned in frustration. "How are you still thinking and talking _and_ kicking our asses!?"

"Hah! I told you I was good!" The mechanized teen cheered.

Just then, they heard Jazz from downstairs calling up to them. "Danny! We'd like to talk with you."

After a moment when the room stilled and their gameplay stalled, the boy in question muttered. "Well, this doesn't seem like it could be anything good…"

"You never know?" Cyborg tried to help, his optimism unconvincing.

Danny gave him a flat stare. "My older sister just said she wants to _have a talk_ with me." Cyborg then conceded that it was probably bad, and the half-ghost sighed.

The youngest Fenton led the procession from his room downstairs, where his parents and sister were waiting, and Raven had even set her new book aside for the moment.

Altogether, it was a somewhat ominous sight.

"Is this… some sort of intervention?" Danny asked hesitantly.

Jazz smiled weakly. "Just come sit down, Danny."

He froze. "You know, I was joking about the intervention thing…"

She sighed. "I _know_, Danny. Just please, I'd feel better if you were sitting."

He considered his options, and nodded, before sitting down opposite the rest of his family. Those who had followed him from upstairs spread through the room.

"Danny…" His sister started, glancing about the room. "Would you like to go with the Titans when they return to Jump City?"

Raven's eyes widened at that, and she nearly gaped. The rest of the room was also strewn with shocked expressions.

She continued speaking while everyone was stunned. "I realize that we'd need to ask the Titans if they'd let you stay, and I'd want to go with to keep an eye on you, but…" Her parents looked a bit shameful, knowing what was coming next. "… we think it'd be best for everyone to get some space and let emotions cool off a bit before we try to continue on with life as usual…"

Eventually, Danny overcame his shock, but still only managed to barely stammer out "But… why…?"

Surprisingly, the next person to speak was Raven. "I think you should do it." She met Danny's surprised eyes. "You should come with us." She turned to Cyborg. "He's Titan material. Even if we didn't bring him with us, we'd likely make him an honorary member of the team anyway. It's happened often enough already."

The older teen nodded. "That's true. …I'll give Robin a call and ask him about it. I'm all for it, though."

"I'm coming too!"

Everyone else was rather shocked by the outburst, but there Sam stood, angry and proud and unrelenting. "If Danny's leaving Amity, then I'm going with him."

Tucker was quick to jump on the bandwagon. "Count me in!"

"This isn't some road trip…" Jazz started, growing irate. "We're talking about moving away for months or longer. I'm going to be staying until I leave for college. College! Possibly out of state!" She huffed and took a deep breath to calm down. "I'm not even sure if they'd let you stay, but if they did you'd need permission from your parents."

"Actually, It might be nice to have Sam along." Raven started in her usual monotone, which didn't help surprising the group any less. "It'd be nice to have someone to discuss research and check facts with, and several groups in the past have run into serious trouble just assuming their specialists guess right about something and ending up wrong, instead of having someone to question and check their facts."

The girl in question was actually somewhat surprised that Raven would have such a high opinion of her already- most of what they'd discussed in their down time had been how much of what Sam's collection of books said was _inaccurate _or ill-supported by research. Half of Sam's work had always been figuring out what _wasn't_ wrong in her sources… maybe that's what the other girl was talking about? She still felt a bit embarrassed in the way she was singled out, though. Still, she couldn't help the pride she felt in the compliments.

Cyborg spoke up next. "Well, I'm not sure I'd have that much work for him, but Tuck could probably help with a lot of my projects. My specialties are hardware and design, and I'm good with software… but I have to admit, Tucker's actually better with programming and hacking than I am." He patted the younger teen's shoulder.

"YES! Totally going!" Tucker shouted gleefully.

Jazz sighed, palming her face before muttering. "Go ask your parents."

Tucker, arms still stretched skyward in glee, pranced out of the house to go tell his parents he was moving in with superheroes for a few months. Sam's departure was much more sedate, glancing back at Raven and Danny before she left. Getting an encouraging nod from the titan, but seeing Danny still caught in his own thoughts at recent developments, she hung her head before steeling herself and setting off.

It was another long and somewhat tense moment of silence before Danny stood up, tense with determination. "Cyborg, do you think we could take a ride across town? I have some loose ends to tie up before we head to Jump."

The older Titan was taken aback for a moment, before he nodded. "Sure. Whatever you need."

Raven started to stand as well to accompany them, but Danny held out his hand. "No, this could get a little messy, that's why I don't want to go alone. You're still recovering, and I'd feel a lot better if someone stayed to keep my family out of trouble." He noticed then that he'd said it right in front of said family. "…No offense, but like a third of my hero time as Phantom was just keeping you guys from getting in over your heads."

Jack and Maddie frowned, but didn't comment. Jazz looked a little sheepish, and resolved to explain a few of the worse 'Fenton/Phantom fiascos' she knew about.

Raven was as expressionless as always, but she couldn't deny that what he'd said hurt a little… though she couldn't deny the fact that she was still injured. Her demonic constitution made her more durable and let her heal faster than a normal human girl, but major injuries remain major injuries.

She could only nod.

"Okay then," Danny said, starting out towards the front door. "Let's get going."

(*)

Tucker's parents barely got a word in edge-wise while he ranted about moving in with superheroes and working tech for them and generally just how awesome his life was at the moment, with all the opportunities that were opening up for little old him. It didn't take much convincing when they learned he was going with Danny and Sam, and Danny's sister Jazz (whom they'd trusted to babysit little Tuck since he'd become friends with Danny). The fact that he could show them references of what he might be helping Cyborg with, and that a lot of it was stuff co-designed with STAR Labs and other major corporations bent on picking Victor Stone's genius brain while he wasn't busy being the superhero Cyborg… well, a parent can't argue too much with their son getting an in to possibly working with, or becoming one of the great designers of their time. That kind of career could set their little Tucker for life.

With promises to call at least weekly, and keep in touch on social networks, and stay safe… he piled all his tech and experiments and works in progress into his parent's travel luggage and set off back for the Fenton residence.

The Foley family was worried, true. But they could hardly be more proud of their boy.

(*)

Danny knocked on the unassuming door in the unassuming apartment building, in the very unassuming part of town. Cyborg really had no idea why they were even here until the young woman answered the door. Much like the Titan, her skin was dark. Similarities ended there however. Cyborg's dark brown, almost black human eye met her oddly turquoise-green orbs for a moment as the shock of finding a silver-and-glowing-blue teenager standing near her door came and passed. Her hair was raven black and wavy as it cascaded down her shoulders and back, somewhat unkempt. Her yellow blouse and orange skirt conformed to her curves, and she was fairly developed and womanly for a girl he assumed was Danny's age.

Her eyes had by then fixed upon her classmate, who was still standing right in front of her. "Danny? What're you doing here, and who is this?" She didn't mention that she's almost reflexively pulled an ecto-blaster on Cyborg before she noticed it was just his circuitry that was glowing, not his whole body.

Danny steeled himself for the confrontation that was sure to come, but… it had to happen, he thought as he let out a deep breath. "This is Cyborg, he's a superhero. I have a favor to ask you, if you don't mind. Can I come in?"

She blinked at that, but shrugged and nodded. She led them in to the living room area of their small apartment, and gestured at the sofa. They saw her father in the connected kitchenette/dining room area, sitting at the table and sipping coffee. His eyes tracked the boys, especially Cyborg, as they entered. Other than that, they didn't see any reaction from him.

By the time they'd seated themselves, Valerie had returned from her room holding an orange bandanna and combing her hair, before tying it all up using the cloth as a hairband. "So what brings you over here? What kind of favor were you talking about?"

Danny glanced at her dad, and sighed a bit. "I suppose it's best your dad's here, I kinda' wanted to apologize to him too…" The man quirked an eyebrow at that. "…not my fault, but still…"

Val folded her arms under her bust and settled herself into 'agitated teenage girl' stance. "Danny? What's this about?"

He took a deeper breath and let it out. "Don't freak out, okay? I know you're a ghost hunter."

She gasped and her father looked like he'd choked on his coffee without drinking any. They both started speaking at the same time before he hushed them.

"I _said_ not to freak out, didn't I!?" They quieted down at that, but both looked mildly hostile. "This is hard for me to say, but you're about the only person I can go to for help with this, even if you do Kinda' hate me."

This shocked her out of her budding anger and she started to mutter refutes to his statement before he held up a hand. "It's true, Val. It'd be better if I showed you. Get this out of the way quick."

He stood, watching their confused eyes follow him as he took a rough straight-legged horse stance. "Going ghost!"

The white ring surrounding his waist before splitting into two and moving over his body, one ring flowing up and the other down, startled everyone in the room, including Cyborg to a lesser extent who hadn't seen him actually transform before. By the time his transformation was complete and he was standing there in his snowy-haired, black hazmat-suited, glowing-green glory… Val had already leveled a fairly large gun at his face.

"_PHANTOM!_" She roared, nearly pulling the trigger before Cyborg caught her wrist and moved her line of fire from his friend's face to over his shoulder. Luckily for everyone, she halted her grip on the trigger and the weapon never discharged. There was a tense moment before she wrenched her arm out of the metal hand and put the gun away.

Cyborg was the only one who caught her father surreptitiously placing his service piece from his security job back in one of the kitchen drawers. He didn't comment on it.

"Yes Val, I'm Phantom." Danny said, trying to be calm. "But I'm also the same Danny you go to school with. There was an accident in my parents' lab, and I got ghost powers. I've been trying to keep the town safe since then, but all everyone ever noticed was that ghosts were causing a mess, and that I happened to be a ghost. No one ever listened when I tried to tell them I was a good ghost."

Val seemed reluctant to believe a single word he was saying, but she was outnumbered two to one (she never honestly believed her father counted for much in a fight, refusing to remember that she'd never actually seen him fight before) and she kept her mouth shut.

"But I'm leaving town soon, and I _know_ you're a ghost hunter, and a pretty good one at that." Her lips twitched as she tried not to show her pride in that statement. He was still the enemy as far as she was concerned. "So I'd very much like it if you could help my parents keep Amity Park safe from the ghosts while I'm gone."

"Your parents?" She spat. "Ghosts don't _have_ parents!"

Danny groaned. "Did you not listen to a word I said? I'm Danny _Fenton_, and my parents, _the Fentons_, are just going to get themselves killed if they try to handle all the ghosts on their own!"

She snarled at him. "That doesn't make any sense! What did you do with Danny!?"

Cyborg, who had just been watching the byplay before then, his head tilting back and forth to follow who was talking, stepped forward at that. "Hey, you know how supers have secret identities? Like in comics and cartoons and things?" She looked at him skeptically, but nodded. "Well, Danny _Phantom_ is like his superhero name, and Danny _Fenton_ is his secret identity. He's a superhero ghost-boy." His words looked like they were almost sinking in and making sense to the rage-blinded girl. "Just _think_ about it for a minute."

It actually took several minutes, during which she glanced about looking at nothing in particular, and even started pacing at one point, but then she stood in front of Danny and Cyborg again, the tenseness in her body lessened and her shoulders slumped somewhat. "Okay, say I _do _believe you, what about all the bad stuff you _did_ do? Like ruining Dad's job with your damn ghost-mutt!" It was rather clear she was working herself into a rage again.

So Danny put his hands up in a placative gesture, and in a fit of brilliant insight, shifted back into his 'human' form, hoping that talking to Danny Fenton would piss her off less. "Cujo isn't my dog, he just likes me for some reason. Dogs like him are why parents say you can't keep everything that follows you home." He _really_ hoped that analogy would help. "I don't usually catch him because he just wants to have fun, and doesn't actually _intend_ to be malicious… he's just a puppy that has tantrums sometimes."

Val's head was cocked to the side, trying desperately to process what her friend had just said. "He's… just a stupid puppy? You don't make that much damage by accident…"

Cyborg shrugged and tried his hand at helping again. "Kids throwing tantrums usually _do_ mean to cause damage when they're in a fit. To get your attention so you'll give them what they want." He paused for a bit. "They just don't understand that it's wrong to break things and hurt people and make a fuss to get their parents, or in a puppy's case, their owner, to give them what they want."

Danny looked at him oddly. "You _sure_ you're not my sister?"

Cyborg barked out a laugh. "Nah, but I'm the oldest in the Titans, and no matter how much Raven and Robin might want to convince you otherwise, it's usually me playing den mother and breaking up fights." He took a moment to think and then chuckled sheepishly, "…well, as long as I'm not _in_ the fight, anyway." He added, rubbing the back of his neck. When he _was_ part of the arguments, the others would usually just let them shout it out, unless they annoyed Raven.

Val took the opportunity while they were talking to each other to shake her confusion out of her head. "Well that doesn't explain the other things, what about the mayor and the invasion of all those ghosts then? Or the time with that ghost king guy- you can't expect me to believe you could actually beat the _king of all ghosts_, do you?"

To say the boy was exasperated at that would be an understatement, but he took in a breath and overcame his urge to reply sarcastically. "The thing with the mayor was a trap to frame me, and make everyone hate me after I was starting to convince people I was actually _not that bad_. The mayor was overshadowed by another ghost- you know what that means, right?" She quirked an eyebrow and nodded. "Anyway, that was Walker. He runs the prison in the Ghost World, and figured since he couldn't catch me to lock me up, he'd convince everyone here I was a villain and have the humans lock me up instead, or something… that was a while ago and ghost villain plots are always stupid and convoluted."

Val pursed her lips and furrowed her brow before speaking, deadpan- "I'm actually a little surprised you know what 'convoluted' means."

He groaned, and Cyborg bit back a chuckle. "Don't interrupt! Anyway, I didn't beat Pariah Dark on my own, I had help, and most of all I used a power suit my parents built to even the odds a bit."

The girl nodded and bit out a sigh. "Okay, I think I believe you, _mostly_…" She glanced over to where her father was standing, arms crossed and foot tapping on the ground. He already knew where this was going, it seemed. "…but _some people_ really don't like me being a ghost hunter. Especially since it's '_dangerous'_," she made a point to air-quote the word, "and takes time away from my studies and part-time jobs."

Danny blinked owlishly at her, thinking for a second. "I think I could help with that."

Everyone paused and looked at him. "Really?" Val asked, disbelieving.

"Well yeah." He answered. "Just intern under my parents or something as a 'junior ghost hunter' and research assistant… test out the equipment for them, help them catch the ghosts… I know they make enough off their patents and contracts to pay you for it."

That stunned everyone into silence for a moment. Hell, Val's mouth was hanging open a little.

"And as far as school goes, I could ask Mr. Lancer to cover for you a bit… He kinda' knows about all the ghost hunting superhero fighting… stuff… now." Danny winced. "He _might_ cut you some slack as the new town hero if I ask him… and he doesn't throw me out of his office screaming about how I nearly killed him yesterday… You know, maybe that would be a bad idea. I haven't even seen him since then."

"No no no… that's good, I'll even go with you if it'll help." Val started, cutting off Danny's pessimistic descent into convincing himself that was the last thing he ever wanted to try doing. "…Daddy?" She asked, looking over at her father.

The man turned stern eyes on his daughter for a moment before he sighed and slumped in resignation. "Okay, Valerie. It'll be a lot safer if you hunt ghosts with professionals like the Fentons…" Danny managed to bite back the scoff at his parents being called professional hunters. Ghost-gear inventors? Yes. Ghost hunters? Not so much. "…and if they'll pay you for it, then I can't argue about you keeping the job you have now. And if you can convince your teachers to be lenient and you study hard to not fall behind, then… I suppose you can still be a ghost hunter."

"Yess!" The girl cheered, jumping in her glee before hugging the boy who had minutes before been her most hated enemy.

"But…" Her father added sharply, "_…only_ if you convince them to give you all three- the chaperoning while you're ghost-hunting, the money for the job, _and_ the leeway so it won't put you behind in school."

This drained their mood somewhat, but she was still excited. Danny was glad that she would help, at least. …not so glad about needing to talk to Lancer, though… Speaking of Lancer…

"Hey Cy? You think we could stop by the school to talk to my teacher? I'd… rather get this over with." Danny groaned.

(*)

Sam gathered up as many suitcases and trunks as she could find, stashing her books and computer and significantly sentimental items in them, along with a couple pairs of clothing. Clothes could always be replaced fairly easily, and she had every intention of doing so when she got to Jump. Going over her room another couple times to make sure she wasn't leaving anything behind, she wrote out a short note to her parents and pinned it under a paperweight on her desk. She'd miss her grandmother, and she was sure the old bat would understand or even encourage her grandbaby's wanderlust, but her parents never would.

She lashed her things together on one of the small trolleys the butler used to transport heavier items from one end of their massive home to the other, and set off for the bank. Her parents may act like it, but they weren't stupid. She'd withdraw as much of her allowance as she could in cash money so that she wouldn't be hindered when her parents cut her bank cards. She'd buy new clothes and anything else the Titans didn't provide when she got to Jump.

Nothing was going to keep her from helping Danny, even if he did break her heart kissing Raven.

(*)

The school was rather empty, and in hindsight he had no reason to think that Lancer would be here after his harrowing experience the previous night… but there he was, dutifully grading CAT tests taken the day before. His sleeves were rolled up, and his arms showed several small bandages covering minor cuts he'd gained during the ruckus, but he seemed fine overall.

Danny really couldn't help but respect the guy a little more after that. Even when he should've been home resting, the man was doing his damn job. Props to the prof., he supposed.

Knocking on the door, he led the way into the man's classroom- which served as his office after hours- after hearing the clearance to enter. The teacher's eyes widened upon seeing Danny, not to mention Cyborg and Valerie following behind.

"H-hey, Mr. Lancer…" Danny started, not sure how to formulate the question he wanted to ask, or even how to get to the subject…

He really needn't have worried.

"Mr. Fenton… I'm glad to see you're okay, after last night. I'm also sorry that I've been so hard on you over the school-year." The man also seemed to be having trouble piecing his words together. "…I'm entirely unsure what the protocols are for super-powered students, but… you did have reason for your tardiness and slipping grades. It doesn't excuse these facts, mind… but it does give an explanation."

He paused for a moment, before he stood, and began pacing. "I've been thinking, really I was hoping that finishing my work with these tests would help me think, or keep my mind off of it, but… it hasn't helped as much as I would have liked it to."

He huffed, drawing in a deep breath before steeling himself more into the Lancer that Danny knew so well. The man made his way towards them, standing in his 'stern teacher' way. "I am disappointed in you, Mr. Fenton, but most of all, I'm disappointed in myself for not seeing what was actually going on. I'd like you to talk to me from now on, and see if we can do anything to help manage your life more productively. It takes students _and_ teachers to learn, after all. Communication is necessary, both ways."

Danny cut in at that. "Actually, Mr. Lancer… I'm going to be leaving with the other heroes that came to town to help." The man seemed shocked, but made no move to stop him from continuing. "Maybe I could learn a thing or two from actual superheroes, huh?" he chuckled at his poor attempt to lighten the moment, but then continued. "Valerie here is _also_ a Ghost Hunter, and I'm hoping you might find a way to cut her some slack so she can take over the whole 'saving the town' thing when I'm gone…?" The question ended pleadingly, all large eyes and puppy dog tears.

Lancer looked between Danny and Valerie, studying them before glancing over at Cyborg near the door, really just a bystander in the situation. Then his eyes softened and he let out the breath he was holding. "I will see what I can do, Mr. Fenton." He said, nodding to the boy. "Ms. Gray, if you could meet me sometime Monday to discuss this, we'll go over what we can do to help you manage your… extra-curricular activities."

She readily agreed, and the trio left to drop her off, before heading home to Fenton Works.

All in all, the day went much better than expected.

* * *

Not sure if it made any kind of sense, since I'm not a martial artist or anything. I was basing what I said about Danny's stance on Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the 'Horse Stance' that's prevalent in earthbending styles. Knees bent and held apart for stability (this is the part Danny didn't do, denoted by the 'straight-legged' part that I said) with arms at both sides, bent at the elbow and extended at angles away from the body with fists closed, held palm-up. It's similar to how I sometimes remember him standing when he changed to Phantom in the cartoon, but I could be remembering wrong.

But yeah. I'm already 500 words into the next chapter, which means it's 1/8th of my minimum posting length already. Bad news is that I'm getting bogged down by the new term now, so writing will be slow, but it'll actually happen.

Like I said before, this chapter wasn't looked over by anyone but me. Feel free to let me know if you see any little spelling or grammar errors or whatnot. I'll see if the Beta'll get to work on these after he gets back from California.


End file.
